How Polarized U.S. Politics Are Driving Neighbors Apart

Research has shown that face-to-face conversation can reduce prejudices and change voters’ opinions on certain issues. But productive conversation, or any conservation at all, seems to be getting more rare. Thanks to more time spent online, longer work hours, economic segregation and the continuing spread of suburbia, Americans have become increasingly isolated from one another, and from different groups, over the past several decades. (One indicator: About 30 percent of Americans say they have never interacted with their neighbors, and only 20 percent interact frequently. In the 1970s, those figures...