[Music] so if you watch TV or read the paper or check out the old Twitter the growing political polarization in America is hard to ignore well now new polling data by the Pew Research Center confirms just how extreme the Gap is the story starts with this Rocky looking thing which is actually a snapshot of 1994 it's the distribution of political views here at the highest Middle Point we see that 49% of Americans held mixed political views now forward we go to 2014 where that middle of mixed views has shrunk and the number of steadfast liberals
and conservatives has increased okay let's see that change again now Democrats and Republicans have have always budded heads but more and more the disagreement is turning pretty dark here's the changing percentage of each party viewing those in the other party as very unfavorable now in 2014 there's also a good chunk who think the other party is actually a threat to the nation's well-being what's interesting is that this polarization isn't just about politics it's about a way of life Pew research surveyed people to see if they'd rather live in big houses and a spread out Community
or a place with smaller houses and more walkable the answers of people with mixed political views were about a 50/50 split but look at the split in preferences between people pure research identified as strong liberals and strong conservatives overall Americans are more likely to hold mixed political views but it's those with mixed political views that are also the least likely to cast a vote David bti BBC News Washington