CW2 Watch: Why a Second American Civil War (or Domestic Conflict) is becoming more likely

We've heard for a long, long time that the political divide in America is widening; that the extremes are pushing farther right and farther left; and that these changes, largely caused by demographic shifts and the adoption of identity politics, are leading to a domestic conflict. That's truly the key assumption for this report, and there's some evidence to suggest it's a solid one.

23 years ago, Pew Polling began asking a series of questions aimed at measuring the political sentiment of the nation. On 05 October, Pew released their latest study, which does show a widening ideological gap among several key factors.

• 71 percent of democrats say that government needs to do more to help the needy, compared to 24 percent of republicans

• 64 percent of democrats say that racial discrimination is the "main reason" why blacks "can't get ahead" compared to 14 percent of republicans

• 84 percent of democrats say that immigrants strengthen the country while 42 percent of republicans disagree

In the past 23 years, these gaps have never been wider than they are now. In 1994, the difference between beliefs on the racial discrimination issue was just 13 points; today, it's 50.

According to Pew, "the average partisan gap [on all issues] has increased from 15 percentage points to 36 points."

Pew also notes that the percentage of democrats and republicans who view the other party unfavorably has also grown -- in fact, it's more than doubled since 1994.

And in the past 23 years, more Americans are moving further left or further right.

The bottom line is that we agree on fewer issues and are less willing to moderate our positions for the sake of compromise. That sounds like a conflict in the making to me.

@culper is a former intelligence analyst who now tracks the risk of a domestic conflict in America.

Cc: @stevescoins and @deanlogic