Matthew Graham: How polarization kills democracy - a podcast by Justin Ahn

Matthew Graham is a political scientist at George Washington University who studies the public's role in keeping politicians accountable. He said that this ability is severely compromised by political polarization, which minimizes voter choice and raises the cost of supporting democracy, as well as a general lack of unawareness about current affairs. 

He noted, "If the same person is the same person is your enemy in every single debate, then you never practice compromising with them, you never learn to respect them, and ultimately you just let problems simmer the way that we've seen happen so frequently in the past few decades."

This episode continues an ongoing series on democracies in decline.

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