Checks and Balances

The US is a federal republic. It isn't a democracy, where the majority always rules. The constitutional system was designed by the Founding Fathers, who were mostly lawyers, to provide checks and balances to avert the concentration of political power and to protect the rights of minority parties against abuses by the majority as well as by those in power. The three branches of government were designed to frustrate the ambitions of the powerful on a regular basis.

In other words, "gridlock" is a feature, rather than a bug, of the American constitutional system. Gridlock has generally been viewed as bullish by stock and bond investors. The companies they invest in tend to do best when government is the least meddlesome in their businesses.