What is the key point of division in the electorate?

Is it class?

No, it can't be. While Bush is backed by corporations, like Enron and Halliburton, Kerry has his share of business backers as well (although they may not be as evil). Small town America, which is not exactly Beverly Hills, goes Republican while Hollywood millionaires are overwhelmingly Democratic.

Is it race?

Perhaps, but it's not as if Democrats have minorities in the bag. Arab-Americans went overwhelmingly Republican in 2000. Blacks are very strong Democratic backers, while Hispanics are much more split. I'm not sure about Asian Americans, but I think they're about 50-50.

So, what is it? I was watching CNBC and Tim Russert was interviewing Tina Brown. She made a key point when she said that the big division of America is between Democrats who believe they're intellectually superior and Republicans who believe they're morally superior. That makes the most sense to me. Democrats win when people start talking about issues and plans. Republicans win when they drag out character and morality/religion issues.

The capitalist mentality divides America.

It will not last much longer as division reason #1 (because economics trouble will overshadow it soon). Today, USA is divided by the level of intensity of religious feelings. Moron who is interpreting Bible in the acceptable for majority way, determines their politics preferences. Interpretation of Bible should fit selfish, greedy, ignorant mind set of the average Joe for him to accept interpreter as a political authority.

Political ideology. Thanks to propaganda and party hate that transcended the weak will to do what’s good for the nation with the extremely energies will to beat the other side. Both sides now see the other as evil nazis or evil communist depending on what side of your on. Both sides believe the other will doom the nation, in reality they are both dooming the nation.

What is the key point of division in the electorate?
Apathy .....At the last election only 29% of Americans voted I wonder how many will vote this time around .

She made a key point when she said that the big division of America is between Democrats who believe they're intellectually superior and Republicans who believe they're morally superior. That makes the most sense to me. Democrats win when people start talking about issues and plans. Republicans win when they drag out character and morality/religion issues.

This sentiment, which was once considered insulting in the sense of the new conservative political correctness, has been bubbling to the surface. I myself am a fan of the litany that liberalism is the intellectually challenging route, while conservatives operate from a platform of greed, superstition and fear. Bill Clinton, on The Daily Show, phrased it, "Democrats win when people think".

However, this plays out more subtly in the electorate. The hard divisions are actually symptomatic.

There is, for instance, the minor contradiction of ideas: people repeatedly poll left-of-center, but the outcome at the ballot box comes up right-of-center. Why is this? Well, for starters, there's the simple inaccuracy of opinion polling. But when we get beyond that, it's a matter of confusion:

• Conservatives appeal to the self; they start with a presumption of "I", or, as has been a necessary distinction of late, "I alone".
• Liberalism recognizes the real fact of human cooperation, and thus starts from a presumption of "we", or, "we together".

Thus, you have competing appeals:

Conservative: It's my wallet. It's my money. It's my will.
Liberal: These are the challenges. What are the possible solutions? What will work best for us as a community?
Conservative: Community? Stop trying to make me bend to your will! It's my wallet, my money, and my life!
Liberal: And it's your neighbor's wallet, your neighbor's money, and you're neighbor's life. And you still have to get along with him.
Conservative: Don't oppress me! Don't tell me what to do! Why are you trying to oppress me? It's my life, my money, my will. Mine! Mine! Mine!
Liberal: So what happens if your neighbor's will competes with yours?
Conservative: That's the law of the jungle. Do what you have to.
Liberal: But this isn't the jungle.
Conservative: If you want it, go out and get it!
Liberal: And if your neighbor wants your wife?
Conservative: I'll shoot his ass with my gun!
Liberal: So you expect him to cooperate? To respect the fact that she's your wife?
Conservative: It's my life! It's my wife!
Liberal: So you want a society where conflicting interests must necessarily compete?
Conservative: It's the law of nature. The law of the jungle. The only natural law.
Liberal: So we come together in society in order to act out the jungle?
Conservative: What the hell you talkin' 'bout? Don't oppress me!
Liberal: Well, what's the point of society if we're just going to cut each other's throats.
Conservative: I ain't said nothin' 'bout cuttin' throats. You threatenin' me? 'Cause I'll shoot you. Don't try and oppress me! It's my life! It's my money! It's mineminemine!
Liberal: Do you expect your neighbor to cooperate and not take your wife?
Conservative: He ain't half enough a man to take my woman. She's mine. Mine, mine, mine!
Liberal: So you expect to compete for everything?
Conservative: It's the law of nature, man. The law of the jungle.

And you can go on and on like that. Conservatives don't like to admit the downside of "competition", but fear "cooperation" despite the fact that cooperation is responsible for more of what they have than their individual selves could ever wring out of the Universe on their own.

The key point of division in the electorate, in the end, is simply how one views society. To a liberal, we're all in this together. To a conservative, society is just a convenient way to group as many targets together in one place as possible. They'd rather be back in the jungle, if only they could make the roads and the electricity and the cheeseburgers on their own.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polarization_%28politics%29

In politics, polarization is the process by which the public opinion divides and goes to the extremes. It can also refer to when the extreme factions of a political party gain dominance in a party. In either case moderate voices often find that they have lost power. It may be one of the first steps to a civil war.

In recent times, some Americans have seen increasing polarization in the U.S. political system. Some point to Jim Jeffords resignation from the Republican party because of his feelings that the party was becoming increasingly polarized and that moderate voices were getting shut out. Republicans point to the campaign of John Kerry as evidence that the Democrats are becoming increasingly polarized. The number of undecided voters has shrunk to relatively low levels, and many expect upcoming elections to be very close.

Others take the view that the U.S. political parties themselves are actually quite close in terms of actual policy and party leadership. They say that political rhetoric is polarized in order to create some illusion of policy difference; however, in practice and action, both parties take a similar approach to government. Examples include vast bipartisan support for one side of various supposedly controversial issues; a majority of both major parties in Congress voted to cut taxes in 2001, to authorize use of force in Iraq in 2002, and to ban partial-birth abortion in 2003. Additionally, since 1948, the Congress and the President--whether Democratic or Republican--have shown the same willingness to grow the size of the Federal Government. Supporters of this theory also say that public opinion has not gone to the extreme; rather, both parties have come closer to the center. Thus, for the average "centrist" voter, it is easier to decide which party/candidate is closest to them.

What is the key point of division in the electorate?

I'll go with sensasionalist, corprate controlled media and the polititians that suck up to those same forces.

That the majority of the citizenry do not vote is a litmus test for the systemic problems that plague our republic.

Otherwise the electorate is divided along the most ancient of reasons. Fear and Greed.

What divides america?

Government
Conspiracies
Money
Education
and the general public

I have nothing agaist the gerenal public of the USA. But lies and corruption seem to ravage the entire country in general....

It starts with education.... most american public schools fail to teach about other countrys... such as Canada, for an example. You get a bunch of kids on the internet who are from USA, who say "Canada Sucks". Do you think they really have any idea on how much we are involved with the USA as much as they are involved with us?

Then we go deeper... Government cover-ups.
Money, lies, deception....

And the media is no better.
The entertainment industry and media tend to draw attention away from the real facts.
The real issues that we or they should be worried about.... Oh look, some celebrity says the war on Iraq was a good thing, while another says it was a bad thing.... "Well I like "Celebrity A" more than "Celebrity B", so I will belive in what he/she says....

Someone who makes millions of dollars per movie, and doing hardly any hard labour, is getting so much attention becuase they are in a MOVIE. Well geeee, I work my ass off at work, when am I going to be on TV and idolized? If my car gets vanalized will it be on the news? Most likey not.... but if celebritys car is vandalized... it is on national news. Pathetic!

I recently saw a commerical with Snoop Dogg saying that you should vote on the upcomming election... and the comercial was Sponsored by the BURGER KING fast food chain....

Really.... I cannot explain how much that bugs me....

When there is a election in the USA, they use TV and commericals to attempt to get poeple to vote for them.... yet, none of them really know what exactly they are voting for.... they just belive and respond to what they have seen on the BOOB-TUBE.

Lets not forget.... that the 2 party system is QUITE FLAWED...

ARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!

I dislike America in general, but that does not mean I hate the poeple. Hey, who are we kiddening, we are all poeple on this earth, we should not fight or argue, but being a part of the "system" of America... can really make one sick.

USA feels like it is the center of the world, and if they don't get attention, then all is lost.


I don't hate the poeple of America, I just hate America.

That is kind-of-a oxymoron, but I hope you get what I am getting at.