I think the spectrum exists most places but it’s a minority of countries where there is such a strong divide and intentional polarisation between only 2 political choices, with those in the relative middle having to choose the lesser evil due to lack of other choice.

In many other countries the political parties lie in different areas of the spectrum, with the US’s “left” still quite right leaning compared to many other countries. Where there are more political parties with influence it is more likely that politicians will seek to bridge divides to bring over supporters, rather than just polarise their current supporters to vote more. There are countries where left leaning communities will swing to the right if convinced to do so. But they are still left and right and if you compare the fringe parties I think you’ll often find the same polarisation and combativeness, just less so as it doesn’t win the middle. Basically the more the middle is in play, the less polarised the political parties tend to be (obviously with exceptions).

No they don't