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Political Tempers Are Hotter Than Any U.S. Election Year Since '80s
Philadelphia Fed measure shows election-year political disagreement keeps trending higher, hampering economic growth
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Partisan conflict among U.S. political leaders in 2016 is higher than any election year since at least 1984, offering another hurdle for the economy seven years after the last recession.
The Philadelphia Federal Reserve's Partisan Conflict Index, which measures the frequency of major-newspaper articles that report disagreement among politicians at the federal level, has trended noticeably higher during the last two presidential contests. The prior seven cycles showed relatively similar levels from January through December of the election year, forming a mess of lines below the two standouts, as the chart below shows.