Divided Viewpoints
The New Republic came out with a poll last week…we asked a couple of the questions to you in our KXEL Poll Question of the Day.
POLITICO suggests the results show that large majorities of both Democrats and Republicans are worried about the near-term future of American democracy.
They cite four results that are especially of note. First, 57 percent of Republicans say they view the January 6, 2021 incident at the U.S. Capitol in Washington as more an act of patriotism than as an insurrection. That’s nearly three-fifths of those who identify as Republican saying the incident was a patriotic act, rather than an attempt to overthrow the government.
Second, about the same number of Democrats—61 percent—say improving border security and restricting illegal immigration would strengthen democracy. We’ve already seen a split within Democrats on the southern border issue, with those on the ballot in those states publicly calling for the Biden Administration to take different action. The suggestion with that question, and those responses, is that even a majority of Democrats believe this open border to the south is detrimental to democracy here.
Third, three-fifths of Republicans surveyed think mask and vaccine mandates are a serious threat to democracy, because of the precedent such a governmental power-grab could set.
Finally, POLITICO notes that majorities of both parties surveyed in the New Republic poll view new election laws as giving state legislatures more power to determine the winner of the presidential election in their state as a serious threat to democracy. Obviously, stated that way, a majority would agree. But what’s not asked is how those surveyed feel about states tightening up voting laws to prevent fraud. That’s a very different issue, and tightening up the laws will eliminate any need for a legislature to worry about presidential electors.
Polls often rely on trigger words to skew responses…patriotic, insurrection, etc. But the one thing we can say is that there is great concern about the direction things are going in each party. And perhaps that’s enough to get a meaningful conversation started…but don’t bet on it in an election year.
