Think politics have never been worse? Of course they have.

With attack-ad season heating up and now an impeachment drive that’s bound to deepen divisions, it’s easy to feel like politics have never been worse.

Of course, they have.

Consider this two-century-old quote from a critic of Thomas Jefferson’s:

“If Jefferson be elected we may see our wives and daughters the victims of legal prostitution, soberly dishonored, speciously polluted, the outcasts of delicacy and virtue, the loathing of God and man.”

It’s not like Jefferson’s camp took the high road, describing President John Adams as a “hideous hermaphroditical character, which has neither the force and firmness of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman.”

And those statements were mild. Much of the mud-slinging from the old days wouldn’t even be fit for a family newspaper.

A few things, however, have changed in recent years.

For one thing, more money than ever is being spent on campaigns, largely due to a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court decision that lifted contribution caps off corporations, organizations and special interest groups.

Since then, political spending by outside groups in midterm elections alone has shot from $310 million annually to more than $1 billion, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

That’s a lot of dough weighing in, paying for more ads, targeting even those races few outsiders once seemed to care about.

On top of that, we’re living in an age when we’re simply easier to bombard. TV. Internet. Robocalls. A 24/7 news cycle.

“You can’t watch a cat video on YouTube without having to watch three political ads first,” said Ben Melusky, an assistant professor of political science at Old Dominion University who has a research interest in American politics and political institutions.

“There are so many ways they can get their message out there now," he said. "You can’t escape.”

Melusky says that while today’s political polarization is by no means unprecedented — #1960s, #Prohibition, #Suffrage, #you name it, #Civil War — we are experiencing a spike after a period of relative kumbaya.

Complex factors are fueling it, but Melusky says the parties are feeding it.

While it’s natural for them to “stake out specific issue areas” to try to get elected, gerrymandering has made many incumbents so secure they worry less about their constituents and more about pleasing their parties — even as the parties grow more out of step with each other and moderate voters.

Typical nowadays: Infighting. Kowtowing to far-wing factions and special interests. Zero tolerance for any members who break rank.

"They used to scathe each other on the floor, then go play golf together,” Melusky said. “The parties had a friendship between them that isn’t really there in recent years. And it has a tangible effect. On their ability to compromise. To pass bills. Even voting on a budget — the most fundamental thing. And it bubbles down into our sphere. And makes us feel more divided.”

So yes, it’s been better. And yes, it’s been worse.

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And yes, dirty tricks have long been part of the landscape. Running ringers to split the vote. Spreading rumors, doctoring photos and forging letters just before election day. Signing petitions with the names of the dead. Burglarizing opposition offices (#Nixon).

In some cases, "politics has been a life-or-death game,” Melusky said.

Take the 1804 deadly duel between Vice President Aaron Burr and former Secretary of Treasury Alexander Hamilton.

Or the 1856 beating of Sen. Charles Sumner, whose anti-slavery speech so incensed a South Carolina representative that he nearly bludgeoned the senator to death with a walking cane.

As for negative campaign ads, “it’s the old Henny Penny, the sky is falling, if we don’t win everyone loses,” Melusky said. “You paint it in the most dire straits. That’s what politicians have always done. But as we know, the day after the election, no matter who wins, the world doesn’t end.”

Still, “every election cycle is important," Melusky said. "The Founding Fathers were smart. Frequent elections help hold people accountable. And we’re seeing voter turnout at some of its highest levels in a long time. And young people — they were once written off — are getting involved.”

He tells his students that elections “are like a storm on the horizon. You can get angry and curse, but it’s still going to come at you.”