GENERAL PRIDE IN US DEMOCRACY IS ERODING

….The latest poll is from the Washington Post

 

Six in 10 Americans say Donald Trump is making the US political system totally dysfunctional.

 

I recall thinking recently that “The divide in this country is almost as bad as it was back when all my friends were getting drafted.”  That was of course before there was an all-volunteer US military and it was at the beginning of the acceleration of the War in Vietnam.

 

Well, based on a recent poll by the Washington Post and the University of Maryland, seven in ten Americans today say “The nation’s political divisions are at least as big they were during the Vietnam War.”  The new poll also found that nearly 6 in 10 are saying Donald Trump’s presidency is making the US political system that much more dysfunctional.

 

Let’s face it:  Trump’s presidential approval: 38%, Congressional Approval: 19%, confidence in the American judicial system: 33%, approval of Republican Party: 29%, approval of Democratic Party: 39%.  It’s pretty bad when the winning approval of our overall political system is a single political party with a 39% approval rating.  The overall average approval rating of all of these government factions combined is 32%.  That’s pretty sad.

 

This latest poll, conducted nine months into Trump’s bizarre presidency, reveals a highly negative view of US politics.  This, is in addition to an overall widespread distrust of all of the nation’s political leaders and of their inability to compromise.  There is also a massive erosion of pride in the way our democracy is supposed to work in America.

 

The new normal is now defined as a “dangerous low point of: 71% - YES, to 29% - NO, when Americans were asked if the problems in the nation’s politics were similar to former worst periods of partisan disagreement”.

 

All of this seems centered upon Trump’s arrival in the White House in January as he ushered in his period of big political fights over issues such as health care, taxes and immigration.  All that, plus the sharp escalation in Trump's personal attacks on all of his political opponents via Twitter and Fox News.

 

“It’s all just messed up now,” said Patty Kasbeck, 37, a veterinary technician in Bartlesville, Okla., and a Democrat. “It’s not even a political system. It’s a [beep] reality show.”  And she’s correct.

 

In the poll, only a meager 14% of Americans say they view ethics and honesty of politicians as "excellent or good".  But even that is down from 25% in 1997 and 39% in 1987. The poll said 12% say members of Congress base their policies on their set of core values, while 87% say they mainly, “do whatever is needed to win re-election.”

 

For the most part, Americans are feeling frustrated not only with the country’s politics, but their ability to talk about politics in a civil way.  “It seems the country is being divided on too many topics and on too many fronts at one time,” said Gene Gardner, a retired communications specialist in Blacksburg, Va..  Gardner also said American democracy has become “a rock-throwing contest.”  “When people have an opinion, they don’t just say it to their spouse across the dinner table anymore,” said Gardner, who is not registered with either political party. “They put it on Facebook. Everything gets amplified and more angry and partisan.”

 

Recent surveys have shown consumer confidence is up this year and stands at the highest levels in the past decade, so it does not appear that it is economic concerns are driving any discontent with the nation’s political system.  Rather, Trump’s presidency is the critical factor in informing the way people feel about the state of American democracy.

 

While the poll finds similar levels of distrust in the federal government as before Trump took office, it also finds that pride in US democracy has seriously eroded.

 

The number of Americans who are not proud of the way the country’s democracy is working has doubled since three years ago.  It has gone from 18% to 36% in this new survey of more than 1,600 adults.

 

And nearly half of those who say they “strongly disapprove” of Trump’s job performance, they say they are not proud of American democracy today. That’s about twice as high as those who “somewhat disapprove” of the president’s performance.

 

Doubts about democracy are not limited, however, to strong Trump critics. The poll finds that 25% of his supporters are not proud of the way democracy is working. That’s a higher figure than for the general public since at least the 1990s, the polling shows.

 

“I think that since Trump’s election, there’s a spotlight on Washington and how it really works: that politicians are out for themselves and beholden to special interests,” said Nola Sayne, a paralegal in Logansville, Ga., who supported Trump and says she tends to vote Republican.

 

Sayne, partly blames the dysfunction on how the Washington establishment has reacted to Trump. “People just flip out at everything he says,” Sayne said.

 

Elizabeth Johnston, a worker benefits specialist in Paradise, Calif., said she’s “embarrassed for the country” and primarily blames Democrats for the nation’s current political dysfunction.

 

“They’re [Democrats] acting like the mean kids in junior high,” Johnston said. “They’re all helping to make sure that the president doesn’t succeed.”  Johnston, 58, a registered independent, said there are some things she doesn’t like about Trump, like his “childish tweets.” But she said the country needs to give him a chance. “I love it that he hears us,” she said. “I love it that he wants to cut taxes.”  (This is what most Trump supporters believe.)

 

Those 7 in 10 Americans that overall hold that view about worse than Vietnam feel particularly strong about those who actually experienced the Vietnam War era firsthand. Among those who were adults in the 1970s, more than three-quarters say political divisions today are at least as big.  “I’m old enough that I remember the Vietnam War,” said Ed Evans, 67, a lawyer in Sioux Falls, S.D., and a Democrat who was a college student in Missouri at the time. “With Vietnam, at least it was focused on one issue. Here, it’s all over the place. In some ways, this is deeply more troubling.”

 

Ellen Collins, a retired data architect in Dayton, Ohio, said she remembers hearing her brother, who was in the Army returning from Vietnam, say that he was spit upon in the airport during a layover in San Francisco in March 1968. Still, she is among those who say political divisions in the country are worse today.  “This country is a mess,” said Collins, “There’s no civility. Friends are now enemies. These issues have made people angry.”  She blames Trump in large part, saying he has used divisions “to his benefit, to play on people’s fears.”  Collins cited Trump’s recent sparring with Rep. Frederica S. Wilson (D-FL) over the president’s condolence call to the widow of a soldier killed in Niger.  “He has an inability to say, ‘My bad,’ and he just keeps going and going,” Collins said. “He’s childish, and he’s a big bully.”

 

Both Democrats and Republicans say America’s politics has reached a dangerous low point, though more Democrats (81%) than Republicans (56%) hold that view.

 

More Americans say Trump deserves “a lot” of blame for political dysfunction (51%) than either the Republican Party (38%) or the Democratic Party (32%).  “We’ve had good presidents and bad presidents,” said Gardner, the Blacksburg, Va. resident. “But for the most part, they’ve all played a presidential role. They’ve tried to bring the country together. That’s definitely not so true of Trump.”

Democrats today have a clear advantage in public trust, with 56% of Americans saying they think the Democratic party generally represents their political views, compared with 43% of Americans saying the Republican Party does the same. A 55% majority says the Republican Party mainly is against their political views, and 60% say the same about Trump’s opposition to their views.

 

There are a lot more details from the poll, but the reality is that the final results are that many Americans feel less commonality than ever with their neighbors. A 56% majority says there are fewer things that bind Americans together today than in the past.

 

This was the, "overwhelming view shared by the majorities across all party lines and most demographic groups".

 

Is this a sign that American democracy as we know it is on its way out? 

 

I guess only time will tell.
 

 

Copyright G.Ater  2017