Josh Imhof | features editor

In the summer of 2024, politics splintered the relationship between a mother and her daughter.

Each of them recall it happening differently.

“She asked who I was voting for, and right away it was ‘Why are you voting for [Kamala Harris]?’” said Cami Claytor, a Democrat and junior political science major at Duquesne.

Her mother, Holly Claytor, a Republican, said she remembers their first interaction stemming from comments her daughter made about her President Donald Trump flag.

“I didn’t even know she was into politics,” the mother said. “Cami’s like ‘Get that down. I don’t want that here.’”

Over the next two years, both have said that their political beliefs have continued to drive a wedge between them

“I think our morals are just so completely opposite that there’s no changing either opinion anymore, and it’s just gone far past the point of disagreements now,” the younger Claytor said.

“Once the wedge was there, I could barely even talk to her,” her mom said. “She just kind of shut me out.”

One in five Americans have become estranged from a family member due to disagreements on controversial topics, according to a 2024 American Psychiatric Association poll.

Despite this growing familial turmoil, political polarization was once viewed as a positive.

In the 1950s, the American Political Science Association published a study stating that the political parties of the time were too similar and that they needed to do things to differ themselves from each other.

Robert Talisse, contemporary political philosophy professor at Vanderbilt University, said this makes it easier for voters to discern what each party stands for, and also offers more perspectives on how to handle issues.

“One of the features of our civic equality is that we each get to make up our own minds about politics, and so political disagreement among our fellow citizens is sort of baked into the democratic ideal,” Talisse said.

Talisse said this goes bad when political polarization strays into what he calls “belief polarization,” a form of polarization where members of like-minded groups shift into more extreme versions of themselves.

The Vanderbilt professor said this extends beyond just the political arena and permeates into Americans everyday lives. Seemingly arbitrary things such as the stores people shop at, the clothes they wear, the music they listen to or the TV shows they watch can all contribute to and signal to others what political affiliation they are a part of, according to Talisse.

“These forces are really easy to detect in others, but very hard to see yourself in their grip,” Talisse said.

Both Claytors acknowledge they have a certain level of bias when it comes to the media they consume, however they both felt it is justified in relation to their political beliefs.

“Everything that I watch, I’m going to believe because I believe that I’m on the right side,” Holly Claytor said.

She said she mainly gets her information from Fox News and the X-22 Report, the latter of which has been categorized as “most extreme right” and “unreliable, inaccurate” by Colorado- based media watchdog Ad Fontes.

On the other hand, Cami Claytor said she receives much of her information from newspapers like The New York Times, social media and family members. While she said she does stay away from left-leaning news organizations, she still acknowledged that sometimes opposing viewpoints can go “in one ear and out the other.”

“There are some points in politics where I don’t need a specific person’s side because I believe it for a reason,” she said.

Talisse said this can be harmful.

“The more we do that, the more we become convinced to see that the people who aren’t just like us are, as the president calls anybody who’s not on his political team, ‘lunatics,’” he said.

This in turn can lead to echo chambers forming, with people surrounding themselves with “yes men” who are only there to agree.

Jonathan Collins, president of the Duquesne College Republicans, said he has felt this in his discussions with others about politics.

“It makes communication more awkward,” he said.

As he has grown up, he said social media has pushed politics into the mainstream, leading to more discourse but less education.

“People talk about things that they kind of don’t understand,” Collins said. “I think what that has kind of done is make it so that people get very angry, they get very riled up, and that makes any type of sensible political discourse difficult because you’re talking to people who are influenced by others who aren’t as knowledgeable in the sphere of politics.”

Riley Hunter, president of the College Democrats, said that while social media does play a role, other factors like a changing electorate are important to look at. As inclusive platforms continue to grow, so will turnout and influence on elections, according to Hunter.

The College Democrat president said that despite differing political opinions within her family, things remain respectful. In one instance, a relative asked Hunter about her political affiliation to which she replied “My hair is blue. What do you think?”

“We kind of joke about it in that sense,” she said.

Hunter said it is the responsibility of leaders on both sides to turn down harmful rhetoric.

“I think we will always have some polarization, and we won’t get rid of it entirely,” Hunter said. “But I think if some politicians up top change the way they talk about the other side, that will have a positive effect.”

In terms of when polarization would recede, Talisse said he wasn’t sure.

“I wish I could say that the fever is going to break,” he said.

Instead, he felt one thing that could help was participating in non-political activities with those that may have differing viewpoints than others.

While the Claytors remain on opposite sides of the spectrum, they have both felt the effects of the rift.

“I did used to be close with [my mom], and we used to have that really good relationship,” Cami Claytor said. “It definitely weighed on me emotionally because at the end of the day, it’s your parent.”

“I’d rather just have my daughter than try to be right or wrong about anything,” Holly Claytor said.

Josh Imhof can be reached at imhofj@duq.edu