摘要：Scholars widely understand that the U.S. electorate has become increasingly polarized since the 1980s. However, little rigorous statistical work evaluates the role of the American president in this process. A potential reason for the lack of rigorous statistical work could be measurement limitations. Previous work has also not separated out how presidents affect fellow and opposing partisans in the ongoing process. New measures of electoral polarization are presented and evaluated for presidential effects using Box‐Tiao multiple impact assessment methods. The statistical results show that post‐1980 presidents have been central to electoral polarization generally and to polarization of both the president's fellow and opposing partisans specifically.
