Democrats join Republicans in calling their opponents ‘enemies’

Democracy isn’t simply voting once and being done; it’s a constant allocation of power based on measuring the views of the public. That, by itself, reinforces the utility of the process: If you don’t win today, you might win tomorrow.

This is exactly why recent patterns in American politics are so alarming. There’s the push, driven by former president Donald Trump, to deem any electoral loss as suspect even when it very obviously is not. But there’s also an increase in the extent to which members of either party see the other side not as opponents for constantly adjudicated political power but, instead, as enemies.

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In February 2021, soon after President Biden took office, CBS News and its pollster YouGov released data showing that most Republicans viewed Democrats in precisely that way. Asked to evaluate whether Democrats were political opponents (meaning that a Democratic win simply meant not getting desired policies) or enemies — “if they win, your life or your entire way of life may be threatened” — most Republicans identified the Democrats as enemies. Democrats, on the other hand, were more likely to call Republicans political opponents.

In research conducted last month, though, that’s changed. Now most Democrats call Republicans enemies in turn. There’s been a 17-point increase in the extent to which Democrats use that term to describe Republicans. Republicans are about as likely now to describe Democrats as “enemies” as they were 17 months ago.

There are (as CNN’s Ariel Edwards-Levy points out) some interesting demographic divides, particularly in comparison to the results in February 2021. For example, older Democrats have seen a much larger surge in their identification of Republicans as “enemies” than have younger Democrats. On the Republican side, it’s also the case that younger members of the party are less likely to identify the opposition as “enemies.”

It’s also the case that liberal Democrats are more likely to identify Republicans as “enemies” than are more moderate Democrats. There are not enough moderate Republicans to break out their views, which is telling by itself.

Then there’s the overlap of education and race. Whites in the Democratic Party are about as likely to call Republicans “enemies” regardless of whether they have a college degree. That’s not true among Republicans: Whites without a degree — a key bastion of Trump’s base of support — are now more likely to use the term to describe those on the left.

It’s useful to back up for a moment and remember what’s being said here. Most Democrats and most Republicans now think that seeing the other party win means not simply that they enact unfavorable policies but that their very lives may be at stake. At the very least, that their way of life would be.

YouGov and CBS asked about that as well. A plurality of Americans think that the biggest threat to American way of life is other Americans. Among Republicans, slightly more see economic forces as the biggest threat; they’re 18 points more likely to point to economics (“like money, trade and business”) than Democrats. Democrats are 17 points more likely to point to the natural world (like viruses or climate change).

Note that the results above are among all respondents, not just those who view the other side as enemies.

The trend toward demonizing the other party is long-standing. The era in which there was a cordial jockeying for power among Americans who had a generally shared sense of patriotism and national direction has eroded, if not vanished. Now, we are forced to consider these poll results in the grimmest context: When you view opponents as enemies instead of simply competitors, when you view electoral losses as more dire than temporary setbacks — the range of responses to actions you disagree with expands.