The Values That Underlie Our Politics - Rob Horowitz

The Values That Underlie Our Politics - Rob Horowitz

While there remain certain core beliefs that still unite most Americans, some of the cleavages that we see playing out every day in our increasingly poisonous public square are growing more pronounced.  These are among the findings of the annual Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) American Values Survey.

Americans, by and large, remain in agreement that “America has always been a force for good in the world.” Nearly 3-in-4 Americans completely or most agree with that statement, while less than 1-in-4 disagree, according to PRRI. When the same question was asked 8 years ago, the results were in the same ballpark. This belief that America is “a force for good in the world” cuts across all the major sub-groups of the public. 

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Similarly, three in four Americans (75%) agree with the statement "it is still possible for the U.S. to achieve the ideal of our national motto ‘E Pluribus Unum’: ‘From many people, one,’ compared to 22% who disagree,” finds PRRI. This optimistic belief also cuts across major sub-groups.

Other nearly universally shared values include the importance of individual freedoms, of giving every citizen the right to vote, of accepting people no matter their religion or race, and of respect for American political institutions.

“More than nine in ten Americans say that it is somewhat or very important to being 'truly American' to believe in individual freedoms, such as freedom of speech (slightly up from 91% in 2018 to 95% today), to believe that every citizen should be able to vote in elections (93%), to accept people of diverse racial and religious grounds (up from 86% in 2018 to 92% today), and to respect American political institutions and laws (91%),” reports PRRI.

Where we diverge is on the telling question of whether or not American culture has changed for better or worse since the 1950s with 47% of us saying it has mostly changed for better and 52% saying it has mostly changed for the worse.  There is a 34% point difference between self-identified Democrats and Republicans on this question:  only 29% of Republicans say that American culture and way of life has changed for the better as compared to 63% of Democrats.

On the related question of whether or not “America is in danger of losing its culture and identity” there is an even starker divide:  80% of Republicans--and nearly all Republicans who trust far-right news outlets and Fox News--think we are in danger, while only 30 % of Democrats do.  Nearly 8-in-10 white evangelical Protestants and more than 6-in-10 whites without college degrees believe America is in danger of losing its culture and identity as well.

Another significant and related point of departure is on feelings about the changing composition of the American population. More than twice as many Democrats (64%) than Republicans (30%) prefer the United States “be made up of people from all over the world.” Similarly, “more than eight in ten Democrats (82%), compared to less than half of Republicans (47%), say that diversity makes the country stronger,” finds PRRI. “Indeed, Republicans are five times more likely than Democrats to say that diversity makes the country weaker (16% vs. 3%).” Along the same lines, nearly 4 times as many Republicans (33%) as Democrats (9%) say that the decline in the white population in the 2020 census is mostly negative.

Despite the anxieties and fears of the changing composition of our nation felt by a significant slice of the public--anxieties that this survey records and that in many ways echo similar sentiments expressed during the influx of Italian, Jewish and Irish immigrants in the early twentieth century--the still broad agreement on fundamental American values provides a well-marked path forward. 

The most successful and public-spirited politicians and advocates have always recognized that appealing to our hopes--not our fears--and to what unites us--not divides us--is the key to marshaling big majorities of the public behind their ideas and proposals and to the always unfinished business of ‘forming a more perfect union.” That is the common thread that John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Ronald Reagan to give just a few examples well-understood.

That is what we need today from more of our leaders: to heed Lincoln’s famous words and appeal to “the better angels of our nature.”  It is not only the right thing to do; this survey shows it can still work.

 

Rob Horowitz is a strategic and communications consultant who provides general consulting, public relations, direct mail services and polling for national and state issue organizations, various non-profits, businesses, and elected officials and candidates. He is an Adjunct Professor of Political Science at the University of Rhode Island.