2025: Empowering the Future through Education, Diversity, and Hope
The Same Team Yelling at Each Other
Location
Hemmingson Ballroom
Start Date
15-4-2025 12:40 PM
End Date
15-4-2025 1:40 PM
Description
This poster delves into the partisan dynamics surrounding public welfare policies in the United States (e.g., Affordable Care Act) with an emphasis on how political parties react to policies enacted by their opposition. Through a comparative analysis of legislative responses, media framing, and shifts in public opinion, this project seeks to uncover the deeper motivations behind partisan policy rejection. It explores how political identity, party loyalty, and ideological polarization contribute to this opposition, ultimately shaping the broader discourse on social welfare and governance in a divided political landscape (Koehler,2024). It will delve into how both parties try to protect their political images and separate themselves from the other, manifesting out-group responses that mainly seek to protect members’ self-identity. They will see the “other” as barbarous or evil while viewing themselves as righteous in comparison (Tajfel & Turner, 1979). This divide between the two parties hinders communication and collaboration, leading to further factionalism that separates the two groups. This poster will argue that the tendency to perceive opposing political groups as out-groups significantly undermines constructive policymaking. This dynamic contributes to legislative gridlock, where policies are often dismissed based on partisan identity rather than substantive evaluations (Paine,2024). As ideological polarization deepens, opportunities for bipartisan cooperation diminish, hindering the development of effective and sustainable policy solutions to critical social and economic challenges. This project will conclude with some suggestions for how political parties may begin to listen to the content of one another’s ideas and look for areas of overlap.
Recommended Citation
Lara, Jericho, "The Same Team Yelling at Each Other" (2025). Diversity & Social Justice in Education Conference. 30.
https://repository.gonzaga.edu/dsjconf/2025/general/30
Publication Date
2025
The Same Team Yelling at Each Other
Hemmingson Ballroom
This poster delves into the partisan dynamics surrounding public welfare policies in the United States (e.g., Affordable Care Act) with an emphasis on how political parties react to policies enacted by their opposition. Through a comparative analysis of legislative responses, media framing, and shifts in public opinion, this project seeks to uncover the deeper motivations behind partisan policy rejection. It explores how political identity, party loyalty, and ideological polarization contribute to this opposition, ultimately shaping the broader discourse on social welfare and governance in a divided political landscape (Koehler,2024). It will delve into how both parties try to protect their political images and separate themselves from the other, manifesting out-group responses that mainly seek to protect members’ self-identity. They will see the “other” as barbarous or evil while viewing themselves as righteous in comparison (Tajfel & Turner, 1979). This divide between the two parties hinders communication and collaboration, leading to further factionalism that separates the two groups. This poster will argue that the tendency to perceive opposing political groups as out-groups significantly undermines constructive policymaking. This dynamic contributes to legislative gridlock, where policies are often dismissed based on partisan identity rather than substantive evaluations (Paine,2024). As ideological polarization deepens, opportunities for bipartisan cooperation diminish, hindering the development of effective and sustainable policy solutions to critical social and economic challenges. This project will conclude with some suggestions for how political parties may begin to listen to the content of one another’s ideas and look for areas of overlap.
Comments
Poster Session B