Kind words and polite manners are getting harder to find in America, according to a new poll.
Two out of three Americans consider a lack of civility to be a major problem for the nation, and 72 percent think that the problem is worse in recent years, according to a poll released Tuesday by Weber Shandwick and Powell Tate with KRC Research.
The poll gave politics the worst rap. Seventy-two percent of Americans view the political world as uncivil, beating out traffic at 69 percent, talk radio at 59 percent and TV at 52 percent.
That perception is changing how much attention Americans pay to politics. Nearly half of Americans said they had chosen to tune out government, and 63 percent attributed that decision to a lack of civility.
Manners expert Nancy Mitchell, who runs the D.C.-based consulting company The Etiquette Advocate, said she wasn’t surprised by the numbers.
“I think in recent years we have become a more informal society. That contributes to a lack of civility,” she said. “We have also been bombarded with things like reality TV, where bad behavior is rewarded.”
The cause of all this brutish behavior may be the recession. The poll found that 3 out of 4 Americans believe the financial crisis has lessened America’s level of civility.
“They are being more rude, because so many things are directing our lives right now that are out of our control,” Mitchell said.
More than 1,000 adults were surveyed online for the poll.
