ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Americans across all parties share many policy preferences, with overlaps on hot-button issues such as abortion, gun restrictions and even Project 2025. 

“The types of issues that seem to get picked up are issues that seem to be what a lot of commentators refer to as cultural issues that cast one group against another group,” University of Rochester professor of political science James Druckman said. “So immigration is a classic example, right? And when these issues become moralized, it becomes much more difficult to find a middle ground.”

Druckman, an expert on American democracy and polarization, has invested years publishing and researching how the current state of the political climate has evolved over time, with the country’s tension reaching an alarming level. 

“What we see is what we call demographic sorting, where we see people with certain demographics moving from one party or another,” Druckman said. “So you see politics spilling over into other parts of life that they didn’t use to spill over. And then you get a tinderbox of political tensions.”

Druckman shares this election season has contributed to the violence in America like no other.

“The rhetoric and people in surveys are more willing to say that they think violence is justified," he said. "And I think part of that stems essentially from the moralization of one side against the other, which can lead to dehumanization.”

He says research presents that partisans don’t just disagree with each other, they also see the other sides as enemies. 

“Moralizing rhetoric spreads much more quickly, particularly on social media,” Druckman said. “And so if you have content that is moralizing, it's going to get retweeted much more often. It's going to invite many more followers than the equivalent content that does not have moralizing language. So people seem to be drawn to moralizing rhetoric, and that leads them to more lies and more and more things.”

In the aftermath of the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump on Saturday, President Joe Biden has addressed the nation from the Oval Office, asking Americans to cool down the rhetoric.

“The rhetoric has gotten very heated,” Biden said. “It's time to cool down. We all have a responsibility to do that. Yes, we have deeply felt strong disagreements. The stakes in this election are enormously high.”

An investigation is continuing into the assassination attempt by gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks.

“I think it will be quite consequential what we do learn, right?” Druckman said. “If we learn that it was a political motivation, there is probably going to be a different reaction than if we learned that it was a non-political motivation, such as just attention-seeking behavior of some sort.”

He says social media has played a big factor in the increased tension not only across the country, but the world.

“The ability of politicians to directly say what they want to say really changed the nature of things,” Druckman said. “When the U.S. polarizes, it weakens the presence of the U.S. in the eyes of opposition.”