Sorting

According to our reading, "Those who affiliate with a party today are more likely to affiliate with the ideologically correct party than they were in earlier periods." This is known as sorting. We have previously discussed polarization which involved the electorate shifting toward either ends of the political spectrum. In the past we also saw that people would actually vote for the party that did not have the same ideological preferences as they did. Presently, the electorate is one or increasingly more informed and politically educated voters. Thanks to advancements in media, one can get any information they would like at their fingertips in seconds. Voters in recent years are beginning to change their votes to better match the ideology of the correct party. Due to these factors we can see the process of sorting take place. The voters with democratic ideals that were voting incorrectly conservative, and vice versa, will now vote correctly and are therefore "sorted" into the correct voting category. It is due to this that we see more ideologically unified parties in recent years.