Who Do We Think We Are?

According to a new study, Americans’ perceptions of the opposing political party tend to skew far from the truth. … Perry Bacon, senior writer for FiveThirtyEight, wrote about the study for his column “Secret Identity.” He says that there was a time when we assumed some diversity within the parties, but now each party presumes a set of beliefs, ethnicities and even locations so fixed that party affiliation defines us more than almost anything else. Brooke spoke with Perry about why the gulf between perception and reality is so wide.

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