The Republicans are now more divided than the Democrats, discuss. [45 Marks].

The end of the “Solid South” in US politics provided a catalyst for the growing polarisation between the two major parties, the Democrats and the Republicans, the ideological coalescence within them becoming even greater. However, there have long been divisions within the two parties, being exemplified in the Republican party between fiscal and social conservatives and the more moderate GOP members, and the Democrats between the centrist New Democratic faction and the emerging Progressives. Especially in recent US politics, the idea that the Republicans have been more divided than the Democrats, due in part to their greater diversity of views, has been a popular opinion, although there are several important areas where the factions within the Democratic Party have been fiercely divided. An exploration is therefore needed of the different groups within the GOP and the Democrats, and how they react to each other, and the political contexts of the times, in order to understand their divisions, and evaluate whether one is more divided than the other.