Polarized networks another example of partisan divide

ANN ARBOR-Democrats and Republicans may find it increasingly challenging to bridge the partisan divide when their memberships in political organizations remain polarized. A new University of Michigan study involving Democrat and Republican convention delegates indicate they live in different organizational worlds. Few organizations share members of each party, making it more difficult to find bipartisan causes, says lead author Michael Heaney. Thus, a member of the Republican Party who is also involved in an interest group, such as the Teamsters, may be forced to choose between loyalties to these organizations when these organizations take conflicting positions on the right to organize labor unions. Research teams conducted surveys at the 2008 Democratic and Republican national conventions. Respondents-504 Democrats and 369 Republicans-were asked about memberships they held in any political organizations, social movement organizations or interest groups. Among delegates belonging to the same organization, only 1.78 percent of them crossed party lines, and only 2.74 percent of the ties between organizations sharing common delegates were bipartisan.