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But gerrymandering is ALSO an important factor behind today's political polarization. In a district that's strongly biased one way or another (which is the goa

But gerrymandering is ALSO an important factor behind today's political polarization. In a district that's strongly biased one way or another (which is the goal of gerrymandering), the general election is a foregone conclusion: the nominee of the majority party will win, even if (as it's been famously demonstrated) he's dead, or if he endorses his opponent, etc. The result is that the actual electoral process occurs during the party primaries. And middle-of-the-road folks are a lot less likely to participate in that. The make-up of the primary voters is far more extremist and partisan. And so what we wind up with are candidates that are extremists partisans, and fewer candidates that are appealing to the median, centrist voter.

aaron-lebo 9y ago
There's a lot of good comments pointing out potential flaws in his argument, but responding to yours since it's the most recent... You're preaching to the choir. I disagreed with him at the time I read it and still do. The single party south is a "great" example of what happens when primaries become what matter. On the other hand, the current political polarization and problems are due to the old system, so conceivably changing the structure could change things for the better. It's just fun to consider. I'd also note that he worked in Congress (not elected) for awhile and taught for a couple decades, so his 160 page book anticipates a lot of the obvious criticisms thrown out here.