Partisan political division and the resulting incivility has reached a low in America, with 67% believing that the nation is nearing civil war, according to a new national survey.
“The majority of Americans believe that we are two-thirds of the way to being on the edge of civil war. That to me is a very pessimistic place,” said Mo Elleithee, the executive director of Georgetown University’s Institute of Politics and Public Service.
And worse, he said in announcing the results of the Institute’s Battleground Poll civility survey, the political division is likely to make the upcoming 2020 presidential race the nastiest in modern history.
Highlighting findings that show voters angered with compromise and growing unfavorable ratings of President Trump and most 2020 Democratic presidential candidates, he said the poll “paints a scenario, a picture of a highly negative campaign that will continue to exacerbate the incivility in our public discourse.”
He added, “It will be a sort of race to the bottom, or has the potential to be a race to the bottom.”
The Civility Poll is an offshoot of the famous bipartisan Battleground Poll conducted by Democratic pollster Celinda Lake of Lake Research Partners and Ed Goeas of the Tarrance Group.
Trump sends troops $1,776 bonus checks, and Biden coal, in Christmas speech to nation
NY Gov. Hochul to sign bill to legalize physician-assisted suicide: ‘Who am I to deny you?’
Trump drops receipts on US savings since Biden’s Oval Office exit
Lethal US strike sinks narco-terrorist vessel along major Pacific drug route, Pentagon confirms
Border Patrol chief, progressive mayor caught on camera in tense street showdown: ‘Excellent day in Evanston’
Federal employees in the hot seat as GOP senator pushes transparency proposal: ‘Historic opportunity’
Dramatic bodycam video captures moment suspected kidnapper is arrested after 40 years on the run
Barack and Michelle Obama Had Plans with the Reiners on the Night of Their Death
Ford Pays a $19.5 Billion Price After Realizing it Fell for Biden’s EV Scam
Statue of Little-Known Civil Rights Activist Replaces Robert E. Lee in U.S. Capitol
Breaking: Bongino Stepping Down as Deputy Director of the FBI
Nearly two-thirds of American voters back social media ban for kids under 16, Fox News poll shows
Trump set to address the nation in primetime White House speech as Americans report economic squeeze
Watch: Fani Willis Loses It, Plays the Race Card When Confronted with Damning Documents During Hearing
DOJ should not have dropped Trump codefendant charges: Jack Smith
While it found that 87% are frustrated with the rudeness in politics today, it also revealed that the public really isn’t interested in traditional compromise. For example, a nearly equal 84% said that they are “tired of leaders compromising my values and ideals.”
Elleithee explained, “It seems to me what they’re saying is, ‘I believe in common ground, it’s just that common ground is where I’m standing. As soon you move over to where I am, we’ll be on common ground.’”
Goeas pointed to the poor favorable ratings of presidential candidates and said that 2020 may be a rare race between candidates that less than half the country likes.
“There is going to be a large body of voters who dislike both of them, and that’s going to be the swing vote in the election, which means it dictates the kind of campaign that’s run,” he said.
NEW: This morning, GU Politics released our latest Civility Poll, the second component of the Battleground Poll & one of the first national polls of registered voters gauging opinion on the state of civility in our political conversation. Full results: https://t.co/UhzUBWjbsW pic.twitter.com/C1vy2KB6hc
— Georgetown Politics (@GUPolitics) October 23, 2019
Trump sends troops $1,776 bonus checks, and Biden coal, in Christmas speech to nation
NY Gov. Hochul to sign bill to legalize physician-assisted suicide: ‘Who am I to deny you?’
Trump drops receipts on US savings since Biden’s Oval Office exit
Lethal US strike sinks narco-terrorist vessel along major Pacific drug route, Pentagon confirms
Border Patrol chief, progressive mayor caught on camera in tense street showdown: ‘Excellent day in Evanston’
Federal employees in the hot seat as GOP senator pushes transparency proposal: ‘Historic opportunity’
Dramatic bodycam video captures moment suspected kidnapper is arrested after 40 years on the run
Barack and Michelle Obama Had Plans with the Reiners on the Night of Their Death
Ford Pays a $19.5 Billion Price After Realizing it Fell for Biden’s EV Scam
Statue of Little-Known Civil Rights Activist Replaces Robert E. Lee in U.S. Capitol
Breaking: Bongino Stepping Down as Deputy Director of the FBI
Nearly two-thirds of American voters back social media ban for kids under 16, Fox News poll shows
Trump set to address the nation in primetime White House speech as Americans report economic squeeze
Watch: Fani Willis Loses It, Plays the Race Card When Confronted with Damning Documents During Hearing
DOJ should not have dropped Trump codefendant charges: Jack Smith
Lake agreed that the national division is widening. “There is relative consensus that divisions in this country are getting worse,” she said in her memo accompanying the survey released Tuesday.
Both pollsters noted that the public blames social media, the news media, and President Trump for the growing division.
But Goeas, not a fan of the president’s, said he believes that Trump didn’t start the rudeness in today’s politics. “He is a symptom of where we are, not ‘the’ disease,” he said, adding, “One of the things that I have focused on as we have gone into this death spiral of incivility in the country, that we had to be at a certain point for Trump to become acceptable.”
The poll backs that up. It found that 84% believe that “behavior that used to be seen as unacceptable is now accepted as normal behavior.”
Story cited here.
