A survey finds Americans on the right and the left overwhelmingly agree on several core values but only a minority of each group believes the other side shares them. About nine in 10 Democrats and Republicans agree about the importance of values like compassion, personal responsibility and fairness. Only about a third of either party sees those values reflected on the other side. The findings reveal the depth of U.S. political polarization but also serve as a reminder of the country's shared priorities. The poll was conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago and the nonprofit organization Starts With Us, which focuses on ways to bridge America's political divide.

It doesn’t really surprise me to hear this. A solid majority of Republicans favor government-funded health care. Surprised? You shouldn’t be. Republicans need help just like the rest of us. They’re just more concerned about who gets it. So even though we have more in common than not, it shouldn’t surprise us that we all assume the other side doesn’t know that.

  • TacoJohn@lemmy.mlEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    The problem is those values are so vague that there’s room for massive disagreement and distrust even if you agree on those values. For example, to a Democrat, “fair enforcement of the law” probably brings up images of black men being killed or mistreated by police. For Republicans, the same phrase brings up images of Donald Trump being indicted while Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, and Hillary Clinton walk free. There’s not actually common ground there, since the two ideas of how to achieve “fair enforcement of the law” are so wildly different.