It appears that Lefties and Democrats are no longer the only ones making their political choices due to their emotions. The MAGAs have joined them.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2024/01/20/polarization-science-evolutio n-psychology/

Science is revealing why American politics are so intensely polarized

SOURCE: The Washington Post

"The antagonism that Trump supporters feel toward the media is a small piece of a broader political and cultural phenomenon. This country, though politically fractious since its founding, is more polarized than ever, the rhetoric more inflammatory, the rage more likely to curdle into hate. It's ugly out there.

"Our politics tend be more emotional now. Policy preferences are increasingly likely to be entangled with a visceral dislike of the opposition. The newly embraced academic term for this is 'affective polarization.'"

Per Lilliana Mason, a political scientist at Johns Hopkins University, "'It's polarization that's based on our feelings for each other, not based on extremely divergent policy preferences.'

"Though partisan vitriol is intensifying across the spectrum, Trump looms large among researchers on polarization and group identity. He has cultivated an extraordinarily devoted base of supporters who see his long list of felony indictments not as evidence of potential wrongdoing, but as proof that the elites are out to get him.

"Trump 'is not just saying be afraid. He's saying, 'Be angry,'"'said Dannagal Young, a professor of communication and political science at the University of Delaware. 'Anger is a mobilization emotion because it makes people do things. When you're angry, you're angry at someone.'

"The media do their part to keep things inflamed. Conflict grabs attention.

"'We're evolutionarily predisposed to pay attention to conflict, because we might be in danger. We don't turn our head really quickly to look at a beautiful flower. We turn our heads quickly to look at something that may be dangerous,' Mason said.

"That's a part of human nature anyone can exploit.

"'There are politicians who are good at this,' Mason said. 'Trump is the best.'"

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