Partisanship is devotion to a group or set of beliefs. In the United States, partisanship appears in politics when a candidate runs as part of a political party with certain beliefs rather than running as a single candidate with their own ideas. When running for president, a candidate chooses a party to run as a part of.  In the US, the two main parties are Democrats and Republicans.  

Partisanship has both good and bad effects for candidates and voters. On the positive side, being able to vote for a candidate who is part of a certain party allows voters to more easily identify candidates who have the same opinions and ideas. Unfortunately, this sometimes leads to people voting for a candidate who is a part of their party rather than actually listening to the ideas of all candidates. Voters have a tendency to choose a party rather than a person to vote for.

Another bad effect is that people tend to try to polarize their party’s beliefs. For example, currently the Democrat and Republican parties have different beliefs about how best to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead of trying to reach a compromise that both parties feel is acceptable, the parties try to press their opinions and are unwilling to listen to each other. The politicians feel like members of the other party are their opponents rather than part of the same team.

Overall, partisanship is not built on a bad base idea. If people were more willing to compromise, there could be nothing wrong with the system. Unfortunately, right now we are seeing more than ever the flaws in the way people use this way of choosing their country’s leaders.