Voters are pointing fingers at social media, TV news, and politicians for the breakdown in everyday civility in the country, but instead of compromise, they want their leaders to double down and champion their interests first, according to a ground-breaking survey from Georgetown University’s Institute of Politics and Public Service.
While partisan voters fear that the nation is at the edge of civil war and wish for common ground, they really want their side to stand firm and win, said the school’s first Battleground Civility Poll, conducted by Democratic pollster Celinda Lake and the Republican Tarrance Group.
“Voters approach the current political environment with some ostensible contradictions,” said Lake in her analysis.
“While 86% (including 63% ‘strongly’ agree) of Americans believe that finding common ground should be a goal of political leaders, a similar majority 79% (including 58% ‘strongly agree) say they are tired of leaders compromising their values and ideals and want leaders who will stand up to the other side,” she said.
“Voters are desperately looking for leaders who will champion their interests — and are unwilling to countenance compromise when it only serves to perpetuate an unworkable status quo,” Lake added.
Tarrance’s Ed Goeas said, “More than half the likely electorate thinks we are more than 70% of the way to being at the edge of civil war.”
But, he added in his analysis, voters do not want their leaders to be nice for the sake of it. “Dramatic change will come when it is the politically advantageous thing to do. Most voters are not indicating there is much to be gained by setting an example of civility,” he said.
For the first time this year, Georgetown sponsored the Battleground Poll done by Lake and Goeas, and also in a first, they polled on the subject of civility.
That new poll found the nation very divided on how to deal with the breakdown of civility. But they had no problem pointing fingers for who to blame.
Both sides cited President Trump, special interests, the media, and Facebook and Twitter.
Special interests and social media tied for first at 81%, followed by Trump at 78%.
And 83% said that “behavior that used to be seen as unacceptable is now accepted as normal behavior,” said Georgetown.
What’s more, partisans often cited politicians and media they like as the offenders. For example, it found that majorities of Republicans think GOP political leaders (62%), Fox News (53%), and President Trump (54%) are at least somewhat responsible for increased incivility. And a majority of Democrats assign some responsibility to Democratic political leaders (58%) and CNN (50%).
“While voters consistently complain about the lack of civility in our politics, in reality they appear to be far more conflicted,” said Mo Elleithee, executive director of the Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service.
“They overwhelmingly say they value leaders who seek common ground and compromise, but at the same time say they are tired of leaders compromising their values and want them to stand up to the other side. It’s clear that voters bear some responsibility for this tension, and that voters are going to have to play a role in sorting it out,” he added in releasing the survey.
