Political polarization is becoming an increasing issue amongst voters ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
On Oct. 11, Bowling Green State University held TEDxBGSU. TEDxBGSU is a university sponsored TED Talk partnership where people of diverse backgrounds talk and perform for the community. This year, TEDxBGSU had a timely theme: democracy.
Dr. Robert Alexander, a professor of political science at BGSU, spoke at the event with a speech about the issue of political polarization. He dubbed the growing problem the “polarization pandemic.”
Alexander and his colleagues asked voters in the state of Ohio a series of questions about the current political environment. He said the resulting answers were not what he had hoped for.
“We find an electorate that is afraid to discuss politics, have lost friends because of politics and believe that the environment will only get worse. We find Americans are exhausted, they’re angry and they fear for the future of our democracy,” Alexander said.
He also mentioned statistics that people are both fearing and accepting violence.
“Over 80% of people fear increased violence as a result of our political rhetoric. What’s worse is that a frightening number of Americans are willing to accept violence as a part of our politics as usual,” Alexander said. “One in four believe that violence is sometimes necessary. One in ten believe that violence is necessary in the government right now.”
He went on to mention the multiple violences against political figures in the last couple of years.
“Former President Trump has now been targeted in two assassination attempts in the past few months. Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s husband was viciously attacked at their home,” Alexander said.
Alexander pointed out these instances are anomalies.
“This is not politics as normal. These are indeed more signs that our democracy is in very poor health,” Alexander said.
Alexander said a good way to remedy this issue is to gather people of all types of backgrounds and have civil discussions about politics and policies.
“It’s important to bring people from different backgrounds, working together, get them to learn about issues and discuss them. Look people in the eye. Talk to those people from different backgrounds and experiences,” Alexander said.
Alexander said working together to discuss various topics may bring the American people together.
“When Americans engage with one another, we kind of like each other a little bit better,” Alexander said.
Attendees of the event responded well to Alexander’s ideas. The Associate Director of the Marvin Center Kendra Lutes said she thought they were really lucky to have Alexander speak and what he had to say was very valuable.
“I think we were really fortunate to have Dr. Alexander talk. He is such a valued voice in the industry when it comes to conversations around democratic participation, especially for college students,” Lutes said.
Curt Lydy, a first year business major, said he thought Alexander’s was the best speech of the night.
“In my honest opinion, I thought it was the best speech of the night. I think he had a very good call to action on how we can inspire change and help make politics today not as polarizing as it is,” Lydy said.
Later in Alexander’s speech, he said Americans most certainly are not on the same page.
“Americans can not get on the same page when we are reading out of different books,” Alexander said.
He said that we must get rid of the problem and work together to make the conversation better.
“In order to move beyond this polarization pandemic, we must start with an abolishment of the problem and a willingness to work towards a solution,” said Alexander.
