Book Section: Essay and Review: Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America

A casual observer of the American politics today would likely arrive at the following conclusion: Americans are divided into groups comprised largely of cultural conservatives and secular liberals. Or, perhaps to put it more simply, those who live in the Bush-loving "red" states and those who live in the Bush-bashing "blue" states. To a large extent, this characterization of contemporary American politics arises from media coverage. Political news is made to adhere to tried and true news frames which pit two groups against each other. In this case, it's the increasingly conservative Republicans against the increasingly liberal Democrats. However, as Morris P. Fiorina and his colleagues argue in Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America, the American masses cannot be so easily categorized. News frames and polling analyses aside, Fiorina makes the case for arriving at a more nuanced understanding of the so-called "culture war."