It’s not your imagination and it’s not hyperbole: The nation is as politically divided today as at any point in the last century.
President Biden captured 224 congressional districts in the 2020 elections, compared to 211 won by former President Trump. Only 16 districts — nine held by Republicans, seven by Democrats — split their vote between the presidential contest and congressional races.
That’s a little under 4 percent of the 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. To put that in historical context, as recently as 1988, a third of congressional districts split their vote between presidential and House elections. The percentage of split-ticket districts hasn’t been this low since 1920, according to research from Brookings. Continue reading.