Is the party polarization in the USA asymmetric?

[Hillary pays minimum wage]

Right-wing thinkers/activists/pundits like the Republican Party.

Left-wing thinkers/activists/pundits don't like the Democratic Party. They only consider it the lesser of the two evils.

I count think of a more backwards thought.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

One popular misconception is that the conservative movement = GOP base

Until this cycle, if you're saying Trump's supporters are the base, I don't see how it's a misconception.  I'd wager a hefty chunk of Trump supporters weren't even registered Republicans (or their equivalent in open primary states) before this year, so I'm not sure they can be called the party's base (which I'd say are probably mostly behind Cruz).

The GOP activists (i.e. the loons who care about policy or "creeping socialism" or attend protests/caucuses) are conservatives, yes (well, at least partially - I think nationalism is a far bigger issue for most of them than the moneybags that control the party and the official conservative institutions reckon). The base *(an entirely different matter) however - that vast mass of blue-collar exurban and small-town whites have other priorities. They are loyal to the GOP under usual circumsances, but there is nothing in the dogma of economic (right-)liberalism that appeals to them, in particular. They just find that Republicans cater to their interests better than the Democrats, who have their own special interest groups to give a piece of the pie towards.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Minor correction needed: in most of the US the Republican base tends to lean more in the white collar direction.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

Oh yeah Although I suppose that using the "collar-scale" as a loose way to group together entire voter demographics kind of falls apart. After all the white-collar grouping contains pleanty of demographics that would lean GOP (doctors, mid-managers, executives etc.) as well as Democrat-leaning groups (public servants, lower totem pole private-sector jobs like receptionists); while blue-collars have their own subgroups (unskilled workers and unionised workers for Dems; and contractors and skilled workers for GOP I assume?).

Still, my point stands. None of the "real people" that aren't political activists really give a crap about the "conservative movement" (same for the left, of course).

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yeah you really don't hear Democratic crowds boo whenever Nancy Pelosi is mentioned

[Hillary pays minimum wage]

yeah you really don't hear Democratic crowds boo whenever Nancy Pelosi is mentioned

That's scary!

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Oh yeah Although I suppose that using the "collar-scale" as a loose way to group together entire voter demographics kind of falls apart.

And there are issues with using it as a shorthand for class in a service-based economy, etc.

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This is actually one of the things that varies most across the USA.

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Yep.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

yeah you really don't hear Democratic crowds boo whenever Nancy Pelosi is mentioned

Out of the top Democrats, Reid, Pelosi, Hillary, Obama, DWS, she's the least bad.

[Kingpoleon]

No, Hillary and Biden would be the only thing Republicans don't have. Otherwise, Sanders would be leading a field including probably: (Competitive) O'Malley, Booker, Heinrich, De Blasio, and maybe Feingold or Hickenlooper.

[SingingAnalyst]

Yes, in part because of the role of media and money.
Millennials really are more liberal than older generations; it is not just because they are young. Just as, my generation (early Gen X) was conservative, giving Reagan a 1984 margin equal to or greater than the national average as first- and second- time voters.
The very poor and very rich vote Democratic, as to virtually all pop stars and university professors.
Those in rapidly growing communities vote GOP-- at first. (Livingston County, MI voted 74% for Reagan in '84 but that dropped to 61% for Romney by 2012).
You never hear of conservative musicians protesting that Democrat politicians need to stop using their songs.
In 2010 nearly everyone with an unfavorable opinion of the Democratic party voted GOP, but so did 23% of those with an unfavorable opinion of the GOP.
Depends on the time. I feel the author's statement (Conservatives like the GOP, liberals see Dems as lesser of two evils) may have been true through 1988. Today I think the reverse is closer to the truth.