There are days when I wonder why I’ve devoted my professional career to covering politics. The urge to be a politics reporter came from my interest in how people in government wield their power, whether the public interest is being served, and whether it’s possible to hold accountable those in power.

Mostly I’ve loved my work. But my four-decade study of politics – now as democracy editor at The Conversation – has been discouraging over the past 10 years. While I’ve always enjoyed covering political conflict – it’s a way of getting at what matters to the country – I’ve felt the tenor and content of those conflicts have gotten much uglier than I’ve seen before. American University politics scholar Thomas Zeitzoff offers an explanation for the dismay I’m feeling – and I’m sure you’re feeling – about politics these days in his story this week, “‘Idiots,’ ‘criminals’ and ‘scum’ – nasty politics highest in US since the Civil War.”

“The level of nastiness in U.S. politics has increased dramatically,” writes Zeitzoff. “As an indication of that, I collected historical data from The New York Times on the relative frequency of stories involving Congress that contained keywords associated with nasty politics such as ‘smear,’ ‘brawl’ and ‘slander.’ I found that nasty politics is more prevalent than at any time since the U.S. Civil War.”

And what does this mean for democracy? Nasty politics, writes Zeitzoff, can be a “legitimate tool for opposition and outsider politicians to call attention to bad behavior. But it can also be used as a cynical, dangerous tool by incumbents to cling to power that can lead to violence.”