ABSTRACT
Worldviews are like personality characteristics in that they are habits of the mind that help people navigate the world without having to think very much about it. Worldview politics brings out partisans’ worst instincts. As the Republican and Democratic party bases have become increasingly homogeneous by worldview, politics has taken on an angrier and darker cast. Beginning in the 1930s, the major division between Republicans and Democrats, conservatives and liberals was how big the government should be. People have always had differing worldviews, probably going back to cave-people times. The traditional explanation scholars have given for the American public’s disinterest in politics is that it is not central enough to most people’s lives for them to make a big investment in learning the ins and outs. But Americans have developed much stronger feelings when it comes to politics.
