March 20, 2018

Science® Says Mitch McConnell Is the Most Hated Politician in America

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Matt Yglesias points today to an interesting chart from a new paper by Larry Bartels. Basically, Bartels is looking at partisanship in the Trump era, and finds that Republicans aren’t very divided on cultural issues while Democrats are. Here’s how the divisions play out:

Much of this is no surprise, of course, but there are a few interesting tidbits:

  • Aside from explicitly partisan figures and groups, no one is all that disliked. Among Democrats, even Wall Street bankers can only manage 3.5, and among Republicans it’s the same story for journalists. Sure, they’re disliked, but not really all that much.
  • Nobody likes politicians all that much. Among Democrats, Barack Obama scores around 8.2. Among Republicans, no one does even that well. The NRA is the most liked group at about 7.2.
  • Among political figures, Mitch McConnell is uniquely disliked.
  • Poor old atheists can’t catch a break. Republicans rate them lower than Mitch McConnell, while Democrats barely tolerate them too, rating them slightly below Walmart. Sigh.
  • Republicans claim to like poor people and single mothers. They are lying.

Among politicians, Republicans hate Hillary Clinton the most. Democrats hate Donald Trump the most. No surprises there.

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