Most polarizing election in the past 70 years

[AN63093]

A lot of you don't seem to understand what the definition of "polarization" is.

Polarization is not a synonym for "intense," "hostile environment," "divisive atmosphere," "bitterly fought," and so on.  You can have a calm, boring election that is very polarized.  You can also have an intensely fought election in a hostile atmosphere that is not polarized.

Polarization measures the degree to which people are drawn into partisan camps and associate strongly with that partisan identification.

A polarized state would be one with few swing voters and an inelastic electorate.  An example of that might be NC or VA.  A non-polarized state would be one with an elastic electorate with large numbers of swing voters, crossover votes, etc.  An example of that might be OH.

A polarized election would be one in which there was little cross-over voting and both candidates are winning their base states by higher than normal percentages.  There would also be relatively few swing states.  A non-polarized election would have lots of swing states and few states that were won by a candidate by outrageous margins.

How bitter the comments are on social media, stuff like that... that is not measuring polarization.  If that is what you are describing, then you should be more precise with your language and choose another word.  Like "most intense" election.