Why is it so hard to accept that the nation was heavily divided before Trump stepped into office and that we've been divided for a while?

Average Job Approval Ratings of Presidents, by Political Party

Ranked from largest to smallest party gaps

President… Aprv (R) Aprv(D) Party Gap
Obama… 13… 83… 70.
G.W. Bush… 84… 23… 61.
Clinton… 27… 82… 5…
Reagan… 83… 31… 52.
Nixon… 75… 34… 4…
Eisenhower… 88… 49… 39.
G.H.W. Bush… 82… 44… 38.
Kennedy… 49… 84… 35.
Ford… 68… 37…
Johnson… 44… 71… 27…
Carter… 30… 57…

Jones, Jeffrey M. "Obama Job Approval Ratings Most Politically Polarized by Far." Gallup News, 25 Jan. 2017.

Added (1). It really says something when people focus on Obama rather than all the presidents that had a upwards of a 40% divide… Obama (and now Trump) are just the PEAK, the trend is upwards.

I think everyone knows that. There were too many people for whom everything they believed in and thought was right, was torn asunder when this country elected a black man as President. Thus, began, not how divided we're - that was always there - but, people decided to bring it more out into the open. And Trump has simply opened all of the flood gates.

Right wing propaganda!

All you have to do is look at the numbers! They all favor Republicans.

I lived through the '60s. I remember well the nation being divided about President Nixon. It's not at all hard to accept for me. I don't like it though. I also remember how the nation was under JFK. We were far less divided then. I have to wonder how much of this vitriol is Nixon's fault.

Yeah, like hundreds of thousands of people lost their lives between 1861-65 because of political divides. Now the worst it gets is protestors have a standoff and a few of them get hurt and even less die.

We need another civil ware to purge the racist poison that we've allowed to fester. If you hate someone just because they have more melanin than you have, I would be HAPPY to administer the bullet to your forehead.

I think there was a time when what divided us was less important than what united us. Since the Gingrich Congress under Reagan, the Republicans have heavily focused on what divides us, and have used that very effectively with the help of their hysterical media stars for electoral gains.

The division became more and more apparent in the post-Vietnam War era. This is the period when conservatives asserted themselves through obstruction of mainstream thinking, leading to the rise of Reagan and the rise of Gingrich. This political divide represents the assertion of minorities to rights and the backlash of conservatives to change.

Look at your own chart. There are two post-Carter periods of some "unity": under Poppa Bush during the first Iraq war, and under junior Bush after 9/11.

Whether you blame "liberals" for seeking equality for all and a just society, or conservatives for trying to maintain the status quo (and even roll back the clock on some things), that argument is the essence of the division.

Who says it's "so hard"?

Obviously, the issue lies in the nuance that people generally refuse to admit that they're the cause of division, not the presidents, not the parties… The PEOPLE are those who are polarizing and the PEOPLE are the ones who elect polarizing presidents rather than trying to seek unity.

It will take a good hard knock to bring us back to normalcy, but until then we will continue to divide and destroy one another until none is left.