Over the years, Americans’ trust in their own government has consistently fluctuated. Decline in trust and lagging public opinion ratings were the main topics of the most recent Honors College Town Hall event “Polarized Politics: Restoring Faith in Government.”

Monday night, former United States representative and current vice chancellor for government relations and economic development for UA system Jo Bonner served as moderator for the event. George Hawley, an assistant professor of political science, and Alan Abramowitz of Emory University made up the rest of the event’s panel.

The event primarily focused on how the political climate in America has negatively transformed into what it is today and what actions need to take place in order for American citizens to reclaim their trust in the government. Most of the discussion centered on the idea that party politics dictate everything in the U.S. government today, including the president, who now receives more votes for political affiliation rather than his stance on key issues.

(See also “Town Hall to discuss extremism“)

Bonner opened up the discussion about how Alabama is not the only state suffering from polarization. Bonner said playing party politics hurts all people because nothing can get done, but no one party is to blame. Everyone is equally at fault for not making a difference over key issues, he said, and many people are not involved or do not care, which is concerning for many others due to the importance of issues such as health care and the national debt.

Abramowitz, a presidential campaign predictor, spoke next on the issue of a partisan government and took a step back to take a look at the 2012 presidential election. The 2012 election shows how deeply divided the country has become, where only four states had margin of victories of under 5 percent, meaning the other 46 states were decided in a landslide depending completely upon what political party ruled the area. Abramowitz said there is a growing racial division determining political affiliation. Armed with statistics and charts, he showed how the number of non-whites voting for Democrats is as big as it has ever been.

“This growing divide of race, ideology and cultural values has had huge consequences on campaigns and elections,” Abramowitz said.

(See also “Shiftless and clueless: the state of Alabama politics“)

This partisanship, Abramowitz said, was one of the key reasons Obama won re-election by keeping his strong support from Democrats. Abramowitz also said Republicans keep campaigning for “flaky and radical candidates.”

The University of Alabama’s George Hawley then spoke about the debate over how corrupt and polarized our nation really is. Hawley said the statistics show that “straight ticket” voting, meaning voting completely on political affiliation, is increasing.

Much like Abramowitz expressed, Hawley said politics have become radicalized, and he showed a person holding a sign calling Democrats “You damn Socialists!” to illustrate his point. Although not all citizens are radical, this radical attitude shown by some members of both parties leads to an increase in party politics and extreme distaste for the other party, Hawley said.

“The argument goes that Republicans will learn about Democrats through Fox News, and Democrats learn about Republicans through MSNBC, which is not fair to either party,” Hawley said.

Hawley said one of the most negative effects polarization has on America is the decreasing competition in political campaigns, which could then lead to apathy and even further corruption.

“Don’t use party to decide whether or not you like the policy,” Hawley said.

(See also “Honors College aims for community, conversation“)