Polarized by Degrees

Matt Grossmann is Director of the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research and Professor of Political Science at Michigan State University. He serves as Senior Fellow at the Niskanen Center and Contributor to FiveThirtyEight. He is author of six books, including How Social Science Got Better (2021) and Asymmetric Politics (2021). David A. Hopkins is Associate Professor of Political Science at Boston College. He is the author of Red Fighting Blue (2017) and the co-author of Asymmetric Politics (2021) and Presidential Elections. His political analysis has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Vox, and Bloomberg Opinion.

• Inspiration and Acknowledgments; 1. Introduction: Changing Parties in a Changing World; 2. How Educated Liberals are Winning the Culture War; 3. 'Hope and Chang'” Meets 'Make America Great Again'; 4. The Rise of the Diploma Divide in American Elections; 5. Trust the Institutions, or Burn Them Down?; 6. Fighting 'Woke Capitalism': The Republican Rebellion Against Corporate America; 7. Are Policymakers Solving Problems or Imposing Values?; 8. Conclusion: Why Everything's About Politics Now, and Politics Is About Everything.

'Polarized by Degrees, illuminates in detail the most consequential transformation of American politics since the New Deal realignment: The conversion of the working class Democratic party into the party of educated elites and the Republican transition from the party of business to a populist party of whites without college degrees. Written by two of the nation's foremost political scientists, Matt Grossmann and David A. Hopkins, this book provides crucial understanding of contemporary elections that is both accessible to laymen and revealing for scholars. Polarized by Degrees is essential reading for everyone trying to figure out what the hell is going on in American politics.' Thomas B. Edsall, Columnist, The New York Times