Increasing polarization in Congress has been linked to declining trust in Congress in recent years. In particular, polarization is linked to increasing partisan conflict, which in turn can make Congress appear/actually be less legislatively productive and therefore cause voters to trust it less.

Example of Polarization and Declining Trust in Government: The United States

Polarization reduces cooperation among divergent political actors, in turn causing governments to be less effective at producing policy changes. The ineffectiveness of governments in turn causes the public to be disillusioned with public institutions, making them more susceptible to autocratic persuasions.

Wesleyan University

There are three key ways in which polarization benefits autocrats seeking power in within democracies:
- by reducing public trust in (democratic) government
- by enabling the rise of extremist parties
- by dividing the public in an autocrat's favor

How Polarization Benefits Autocrats

Haggard, S. & Kaufman, R. R. (2021). Backsliding: Democratic Regress in the Contemporary World. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Haggard & Kaufman (2021)

The Effect of Polarization on Trust and Governance

Polarization is typically associated with a move towards different “poles” or extremes. Autocrats benefit from an electorate that is increasingly accepting of extremist viewpoints because that means people might be more likely to support antisystem candidates, such as would-be autocrats.

The Effect of Polarization on Enabling Extremism

Polarization—particularly affective polarization—often pits groups against each other in a “us vs. them” fashion. This division makes the public less likely to unite against autocratic threats. It also helps boost autocrats’ popularity if they can convince their supporters that the opposition is the enemy and deserves to be shut out of power—the autocrat can then consolidate power around themselves with broad public support.

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