Voter polarization over risk inequality.

• Position: Political Parties

A study of political polarization in the U.S. suggests that changes in the labor market since the 1970s has helped create more Republican and Democratic partisans and fewer independents. The growth in partisanship has to do with people's current income and--importantly--their expectations of job security, asserts Phillip Rehm, assistant professor of political science at Ohio State University, Columbus.

At one time, many voters were "crosspressured"--when looking at what they earned now and their risks of losing that income, they felt torn between Republican and Democratic policies. This resulted in them being natural independents. Since the 1970s, though, a growing number of workers have found that their current incomes and beliefs about their job security have converged--in other words, their preferences align completely behind either Democratic or Republican policies. Rehm calls these people natural partisans.

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Rehm estimates that slightly more than half of Americans could be counted as natural partisans in 1968, based on their income and job security. By 2008, the number of natural partisans had climbed to include nearly...