How X Is Driving the Politics of Mutually Assured Dysfunction

Americans seem none too impressed with their polarized politics. Big majorities disapprove of the way Congress is working — or to be more precise, not working. Yet the system shows remarkably little capacity to heal itself. Why is this?

One plausible answer is that elected politicians are simply responding to voters who have themselves become more polarized. Demand-side polarization, let’s call it, might indeed be part of the problem. But it doesn’t readily explain the numbers on disapproval, and it’s unlikely to be the whole story.