The Partisan Sort: How Liberals Became Democrats and Conservatives Became Republicans

As Washington elites drifted toward ideological poles over the past few decades, did ordinary Americans follow their lead? In The Partisan Sort, Matthew Levendusky reveals that we have responded to this trend - but not, for the most part, by becoming more extreme ourselves. While polarization has filtered down to a small minority of voters, it also has had the more significant effect of reconfiguring the way we sort ourselves into political parties. In a marked realignment since the 1970s - when partisan affiliation did not depend on ideology and both major parties had strong liberal and conservative factions - liberals today overwhelmingly identify with Democrats, as conservatives do with Republicans. This…