Thank you so much for this comment. I've learned a lot from everyone's, but yours was the most educational.

I'm sorry to hear that even with more choices, votes still seem to polarize.

I'm also fascinated by your description of the German protest vote and YES--that is exactly what I'm talking about. I'm from a rural farming area with nearly 100% Germanic roots so that was really interesting to read.

Yes, I know what I listed weren't really arguments. If there is one that I really do think is a reason--it's the abortion one. Many rural and Catholic areas used to be staunchly Democratic because they viewed that to be the party of social justice--but when the voting fight became all about Roe v. Wade post-1973, many of those Democratic Catholics flipped to be hardcore Republicans on that one issue alone. I know that's a lot of what happened in my family and relatives.