American democracy was built on compromise. For example, the Constitution would never have been ratified if the Bill of Rights had not been part of the compromise. In a system built on compromise, it is dangerous to have high levels of political polarization. The Republican-controlled House and Democratic-controlled Senate are consistently deadlocked and on track to become the most unproductive Congress since World War II. Despite the “growth” of self-proclaimed independents, a quick look at their electoral history would show that they are usually weak Democrats or weak Republicans. In American politics, party identification is still the best indicator of how a person will vote. In recent years both parties have become smaller and more ideologically homogeneous; Republicans are dominated by conservatives, while a growing number of Democrats describe themselves as liberal. Most Americans say they see important differences between the parties, and many believe they should remain loyal to their party especially during presidential elections. There is no doubt that the 21st century is experiencing ever-increasing levels of political polarization, but how did American politics become so polarized? Have Americans' values ​​and beliefs changed and are they therefore taking more extreme positions? No. Rather, the answer lies in the emergence of more partisan media outlets that have contributed greatly to political polarization and led Americans to support more partisan policies and candidates. Partisan news media revolve around careful news selection and use "twitch presidential sound bites" and leaks to fuel political polarization in American politics today.... middle of paper....... ..of the "contraction presidential phrase". Soundbites, catchy phrases and slogans are taken from larger speeches with the aim of conveying the overall message of the speech in much less time. This mode of communication contributes to creating a polarized political atmosphere because the nature of this technique inherently creates the attitude that if you can't make a memorable statement in less than ten seconds, your political aspirations are over. Due to the strict time limit, candidates are no longer able to present theirs arguments or positions; instead they develop sound phrases that will appeal to viewers. The use of catchphrases reinforces extremist positions; before loud statements, news from major media outlets was generally moderate, but now there are channels like FOX News who are known for taking speeches out of context and giving them a conservative spin.