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This is hidden brain.
I'm Shankar Vedantam.
We typically divide the United States into two political categories.
Conservative Democrats have blocked us at every turn, and liberal the Republicans are not serious.
Finding common ground between these two groups reaching across the aisle far left radical base has become increasingly rare because we keep trying to find a way to win without help from across the aisle.
This is true, not just in a metaphorical sense.
In one study, researchers looked at more than 1400 hours of tow live Senate coverage on C SPAN.
On C Span two, the Senate will come to order the chat hour after hour of hearings and bridges and airports committee mock up sessions.
Congress is a very important pillar.
Testimony Keystone XL TransCanada resolutions.
The clerk will call the roll.
After all these hours watching C SpAN, researchers concluded that since the 1990s, Democrats and Republicans in the US Senate have physically crossed the aisle less and less to interact with opposing colleagues.
That means senators are staying with their like minded colleagues, not just in the legislation they are trying to pass, but also by literally steering clear of the carpeted pathway that splits the Senate floor.
Today we continue our Us 2.0 series by taking a few steps back and looking at the challenge of political division through a new lens.
We hope it will provide a new way to understand the people sitting across from us at the dinner table.
People don't seem to dislike somebody just for being a member of the other side.
They're concerned that somebody is going to talk to them about politics.
And if somebody is going to talk to you about politics, of course youd rather talk to somebody of your own side.