Dividing Lines: political polarization and what it means for campaigns, public policy, and political engagement
Last fall, Journal Sentinel Washington Bureau Chief Craig Gilbert began a six month Lubar Fellowship at Marquette Law School. Working closely with Professor Charles Franklin, Gilbert conducted an exhaustive study of voting trends in metropolitan Milwaukee. His conclusion: the region is now “one of America’s most polarized places.” And, Gilbert reports, what’s happening here is illustrative. “Metro Milwaukee is a microcosm of the hardening of partisan lines across the country,” he writes, “the decline of ticket splitting, the sorting of places into red and blue enclaves, and the two parties’ reliance on increasingly divergent demographic and geographic bases.” Our conference will explore the implications of these dividing lines, in southeast Wisconsin, and nationally. What do they mean for campaigns, public policy and political engagement?
