Gerrymandering

    “Contrary to one popular misconception about the practice, the point of gerrymandering isn't to draw yourself a collection of overwhelmingly safe seats.  Rather, it’s to give your opponents a small number of safe seats, while drawing yourself a large number of seats that are not quite as safe, but that you can expect to win comfortably.  Considering this dynamic, John Sides of the Washington Post’s Monkey Cage blog has argued convincingly that gerrymandering is not   what’s behind the rising polarization in Congress”.

     Gerrymandering is really grouping the supporters of the opposing parties in a small number of districts so that you give them safe wins.  The trick is to make sure that these districts are densely populated with the opposing party’s supporters to the point that the remaining districts are comfortable wins for your party.  You essentially isolate the opposition.