Via Gallup:
The ever-widening gulf between the views of Republicans and Democrats is one of the most significant trends to emerge in U.S. society in the past two decades. This trend is most evident in presidential job approval ratings, but a new Gallup analysis finds that political polarization also exists in Americans’ opinions on many other issues.
However, the pattern is not universal. On a few issues, Republicans’ and Democrats’ views have grown increasingly aligned. And, on other issues, the partisan gap has remained fairly consistent, even as both groups’ views have shifted.
Although it is not a comprehensive summary of all attitudes that Gallup has measured over the years, the table that follows summarizes the trends in partisan attitudes on several major policy positions. The baseline year for each trend is Gallup’s initial measurement, typically 2000 or 2001, while the most recent results are from either 2016 or 2017.
