As the presidential campaign heats up, media coverage suggests that Americans are hopelessly divided and headed for a difficult fall—and maybe a tense January as well.
But that is just not the entire story, in response to reports and survey results from the American Communities Projecta journalism and research project we lead at Michigan State University that analyzes the country through 15 different community types.
In fact, a 2023 American Communities Project (ACP) survey found that there is powerful agreement across the 15 community types we studied on the subject of issues and policies wherein government plays a very important role, akin to taxes, immigration, the economy, and even abortion.
But when it got here to problems with the “culture war” (religion, gender identity, weapons, family values), big differences became apparent.
This gap between the discussion of “politics” and the discussion of “culture” — between the discussion of “what we want” and “who we are” — is having a tremendously divisive effect on the nation. And if politics and government are to turn into more productive, Americans must discover a method to move beyond the problems of cultural identity.
Broad agreement on policy
We saw the difference between politics and culture in our 2023 survey.
The 15 community types within the ACP vary greatly from each other demographically, geographically and politically. The deeply rural, predominantly white community type that we call “Ageing arable land” – small rural counties spread across the Great Plains – gave 79% of their votes to Donald Trump in 2020. The densely populated and diverse group we call “Big cities“ – counties that include many of the country’s 50 largest cities – gave 66% of their votes to Joe Biden.
And yet there was broad agreement on various issues referring to politics or the state of the nation.
For example, in every community type, greater than 60 percent of respondents said they consider “the American economy is rigged to benefit the rich and powerful.” In no community did greater than 38 percent agree with the statement “The U.S. government should cut social programs to lower taxes” – a matter we explored in a panel discussion with voters in Florida.
Even on the sensitive issue of abortion, there was agreement on the statement: “Abortion should be a decision made by the woman in consultation with her doctor, without government involvement.” More than 50% in each community type agreed with this. Many polls show high support for legalizing abortion, however the agreement between different ACP types surprised us.
To be clear, not all areas of agreement favored Democrats' positions. The statement “America would be better off if we allowed more immigrants into the country” didn’t reach 30% agreement in any community. And “The government should play a more active role in monitoring the behavior of the private sector” didn’t reach greater than 45% agreement anywhere.
Regardless, for a rustic that usually feels hopelessly divided, this represents an ideal deal of agreement on statements that, in a technique or one other, concern the federal government's actions.
Questions of culture
But when cultural issues became the main target of the survey, familiar divisions in our communities emerged.
The largest divide within the poll was on the statement, “The right to own a firearm is central to what it means to be an American.” Overall, 49% of Americans agreed with this statement, but there have been large differences across community types and geography.
In rural “Evangelical Centers”, within the South and Midwest, 71% agreed that owning a gun is a central a part of being an American, while within the “Ageing arable land”, concentrated within the Central Plains and Great Plains, it was 73%. In the “Big cities” And “Urban suburbs“, outside the cities the centrality of this right fell to 30% and 34% respectively.
There were similar disagreements regarding gender identity.
Respondents were asked whether or not they agreed or disagreed with the statement “People should have the freedom to express their gender identity in the way that works best for them.” Gender expression was rather more accepted in diverse communities, akin to “Big cities” “Urban suburbs” and rural “Native American lands,” with 61%, 60% and 60% respectively. In rural working-class areas “Country of the working class” And “Evangelical Centers“, the figures were 37% and 32% respectively.
Faith and Religion
At the national level, a sort of consensus emerged regarding the importance of religion and religion.
Overall, 58% agreed with the statement that “faith and religion are important parts of American life.” But here, too, there have been large differences depending on the sort of church.
In the “Ageing arable land”, the importance of religion and religion reached 77%, within the “Native American lands”, 73 %, while within the “Evangelical Centers”, which is dominated by Christian evangelicals, it was 70%. For comparison: In theBig cities” And “Urban suburbs”, it was 47%, a difference of greater than 20 points in comparison with these rural communities.
And there was sharp disagreement over the statement “Traditional family structures with an income-earning father and a stay-at-home mother best equip children for success.” The percentages who agreed with this statement were highest within the group “Native American lands”, with 59 %, and in the agricultural communities of “Christian faith”LDS enclaves”, at 55% and “Evangelical Centers”, at 54%. The “Big cities”, “Urban suburbs” And “University cities“ were at the opposite end of the spectrum at 33%, 36% and 36% respectively.
Culture wars abuse political debates
These issues – guns, gender, faith and family – are obviously very necessary to many Americans. But how much do they should do with politics?
People will maintain their views on gender issues or live by their personal ideals about faith and family no matter who sits within the White House. The government cannot realistically monitor every bedroom and kitchen table in America. The issue of guns will be debated as each a matter of constitutional interpretation by the U.S. Supreme Court and a matter of private belief, but this issue too could be very personal, as now we have learned. after we talked to people in Michigan about it.
In some ways, these culture wars have hijacked the political debate, although there’s broader agreement on issues where the state does play a very important role.
Of course, agreement on the importance of key issues is just not the identical as agreement on what needs to be done about them.
We know from our work with people in these diverse communities that their respective answers to questions like easy methods to take care of a “rigged” system, or with taxes, abortion, or immigration, would likely vary. But these conversations are about give and take, about negotiating answers. That is the purpose of politics, and different from the culture wars that dominate our discussions.
In a rustic of 330 million people, there won’t ever be easy answers to the query “Who are we?” In fact, the country was designed to go away this query largely open inside broad parameters.
But unless politicians address the more necessary query: “What should we do?” the stalemate and tensions Americans feel within the 2024 election are unlikely to vary.
image credit : theconversation.com