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Party polarization hit a high under Trump. Can Biden reel it back? [1]

['Philip Bump', 'National Columnist']

Date: 2021-01-20

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Over the course of his four years in office, President Trump made little effort to bridge the divide between his supporters and the rest of the country. His policy priorities were generally in line with those of the Republican Party overall, but his rhetoric was sharply tuned to the MAGA world. He would talk about unity, but that unity was generally predicated on acquiescence with his agenda.

Unsurprisingly, Democrats never viewed his presidency positively. That preceded his taking office, certainly, but while he was president the vast majority of Democrats continued to view him negatively. Republicans, on the other hand, warmed up to Trump, with his average approval rating among members of his own party ticking up in each year of his tenure, according to Gallup polling.

The result was a sharply polarized view of Trump — a historically polarized view. Trump was among the least positively-viewed presidents in modern history thanks to the opposition of Democrats and most independents. But that happened while he was increasingly loved by Republicans.

This continued a recent trend. Gallup’s annual average approval ratings show that, while partisans have generally been more favorable toward presidents of their own party, the political opposition used to be more generous in their assessments of a president. Over time, though, the support of the opposing party has slipped lower and lower, even as a president’s approval from his own party has slowly edged higher.

So we get a historically polarized moment. In his final year in office, the gap in approval of Trump’s presidency between Republicans and Democrats was 85 points, nearly 10 points higher than the gap in the last year of Barack Obama’s presidency — which itself set a new record.

Part of the reason Obama and Trump set new records was that views of their presidencies did not change that much. Obama saw some fluctuations in his first year in office. After that, though, Republican opposition to his presidency hardened. Contrast that with the last years of George W. Bush’s presidency, when Republican support dropped and the partisan gap narrowed.

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Obama’s presidency was so polarized for several reasons. He was more explicit in seeking to work with his political opponents but faced opposition from Republican leaders and conservative media. His embrace of some progressive policies like the Affordable Care Act spurred its own hostility from Republicans. That he was America’s first Black president also clearly contributed to some of the hostility he faced.

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The question is whether President-elect Joe Biden can successfully scale back some of that partisan sentiment. He’s been pointed about suggesting that he wants to; the theme of his inaugural address is unity, a challenging proposition in a politically divided country.

There’s reason to think that he can at least make some headway in that regard. It’s clear that his approach to leading won’t mirror Trump’s with a focus on amplifying partisan rhetoric. His support in the 2020 presidential contest, earning more than half of the votes cast, is a reminder that he’s got a broader base of support than did Trump upon entering office.

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In fact, part of his appeal in the Democratic primaries was that he would be able to win back some of those who’d abandoned his party for Trump in 2016. He was Scranton Joe, the guy who could speak to Rust Belt voters. How successful that was remains somewhat unclear, though he did narrow Trump’s lead among Whites without a college degree from 48 points in 2016 to 35 points last year according to exit polling.

It’s too early to determine how people view Biden’s presidency given that it begins on Wednesday. But Gallup polling does suggest that his transition is at least more positively seen by Republicans than Trump’s was by Democrats. The gap between the parties is about as wide as was the gap in 2016, but his transition is seen more positively by both his political opponents and independents than was Trump’s.

It’s also the case that Biden is viewed more favorably than was Trump, as he has been over the course of the past year. Biden is viewed favorably by 57 percent of the country, according to Gallup, 17 points higher than Trump at the same point in 2017, and just a bit behind George W. Bush in 2001 and Bill Clinton in 1993.

That will change as Biden transitions into the White House and begins advocating the policies on which he ran. Obama’s favorable rating in early 2009 was at 78 percent, after all.

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[1] Url: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/01/20/party-polarization-hit-high-under-trump-can-biden-reel-it-back/?itid=lk_inline_manual_7

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