We see the same story again and again. A 2020 poll called Dueling Realities found that 81% of Republicans believe “the Democratic Party has been taken over by socialists,” while 78% of Democrats believe “the Republican Party has been taken over by racists.” In 2022, Pew found that 72% of Americans believe that “on the issues that matter to them, their side in politics has been losing more often than winning” while only 24% felt that their side was winning more than losing—a natural result of political media that increasingly focuses on grievance and negativity.
