Democrats have moved left since the '90s, resulting in...fewer Democrats and more Republicans.
Gerrymandering has little to do with the GOP dominance in the House.
So who is the extremist party?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...-the-real-reason-u-s-politics-are-a-disaster/
These political scientists may have just discovered why U.S. politics are a disaster
...By looking at extensive data on U.S. states over the past few decades, the researchers show that the widening gap between the rich and the poor in recent decades has moved state legislatures toward the right overall, while also increasing the ideological distance between those on the right and those on the left...
First, the researchers find that Democrats as a whole have shifted farther to the left than the Republicans have to the right, with very liberal Democrats becoming even more liberal. But at the level of the state legislature, they find that ideology as a whole has shifted slightly to the right. The reason is that there has been a change in the partisan balance, with Republicans winning more seats from moderate Democrats over time.
"As the Democrat party has shrunk nationally over the course of the last 15 years, the disproportionate effect has been the replacement of moderate Democrats with Republicans, and that has tended to happen most often in states with high levels of inequality, or where inequality is growing the fastest,” McCarty said.
Gerrymandering has little to do with the GOP dominance in the House.
So who is the extremist party?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...-the-real-reason-u-s-politics-are-a-disaster/
These political scientists may have just discovered why U.S. politics are a disaster
...By looking at extensive data on U.S. states over the past few decades, the researchers show that the widening gap between the rich and the poor in recent decades has moved state legislatures toward the right overall, while also increasing the ideological distance between those on the right and those on the left...
First, the researchers find that Democrats as a whole have shifted farther to the left than the Republicans have to the right, with very liberal Democrats becoming even more liberal. But at the level of the state legislature, they find that ideology as a whole has shifted slightly to the right. The reason is that there has been a change in the partisan balance, with Republicans winning more seats from moderate Democrats over time.
"As the Democrat party has shrunk nationally over the course of the last 15 years, the disproportionate effect has been the replacement of moderate Democrats with Republicans, and that has tended to happen most often in states with high levels of inequality, or where inequality is growing the fastest,” McCarty said.
