wedge issue
nounDefinition of wedge issue
: a political issue that divides a candidate's supporters or the members of a party
Examples of wedge issue in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
This is the party that Trump has helped make possible by moving past the culture wars that dominated the 1990s and early 2000s, in particular by removing gay rights as a wedge issue from the old Republican playbook. — Robert Kabeland And Jill Homan, Twin Cities, "Kabeland, Homan: Trump defends LGBTQ rights. He has our Log Cabin endorsement.," 17 Aug. 2019 With little genuine debate on policy happening in Congress, party leaders distract and divide the public by exploiting wedge issues and waging pointless messaging wars. — Justin Amash, Twin Cities, "Justin Amash: Our politics is in a partisan death spiral. That’s why I’m leaving my party," 10 July 2019 There was a reason for the pair to be nervous: Republicans had long used gun control as an effective cultural wedge issue against Democrats in national elections. — Los Angeles Times, "What are the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates’ positions on gun control?," 30 July 2019 In a country largely free of the polarisation that blights America’s politics, the rights and wrongs of oil extraction are the main wedge issue. — The Economist, "The environmentThe environment is Canada’s biggest wedge issue," 25 July 2019 With little genuine debate on policy happening in Congress, party leaders distract and divide the public by exploiting wedge issues and waging pointless messaging wars. — Justin Amash, Twin Cities, "Justin Amash: Our politics is in a partisan death spiral. That’s why I’m leaving my party," 10 July 2019 With little genuine debate on policy happening in Congress, party leaders distract and divide the public by exploiting wedge issues and waging pointless messaging wars. — Justin Amash, Twin Cities, "Justin Amash: Our politics is in a partisan death spiral. That’s why I’m leaving my party," 10 July 2019 With little genuine debate on policy happening in Congress, party leaders distract and divide the public by exploiting wedge issues and waging pointless messaging wars. — Justin Amash, The Denver Post, "Justin Amash: Our politics is in a partisan death spiral. That’s why I’m leaving the GOP," 5 July 2019 President Trump, who signed a criminal justice reform bill last year, has sought to use former Vice President Joe Biden’s support for tough sentencing guidelines during the Clinton-era as a wedge issue against him. — Evan Halper, latimes.com, "Democratic candidates vow to ban private prisons and detention centers," 21 June 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'wedge issue.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Keep scrolling for more
Keep scrolling for more