According to the latest Pew Research findings, the American electorate is becoming more partisan. This reaffirms Marcus Prior's recent thesis that cable TV and the internet increase polarization in the electorate. This happens mainly because of too much choice. Compared to the old days, when most citizens watched one of the two main news broadcasts at night (i.e. there was not much competing for attention), modern times have seen an explosion of choice, and citizens are no longer chained to the stodgy newscasts. A by-product of this is that people can now either a) ignore news altogether, or b) if interested, seek news in a variety of often extremely partisan formats. Ultimate end results are an increasingly polarized electorate, as well as sparse differences in political involvement among the electorate, accentuated along the usual lines of education and socio-economic factors.

Neil.