Assessing American Attitudes
Terry H. Schwadron
Oct. 22, 2024
Qualms about polls to track minute differences in a tight electoral contest aside, the most useful part of poll results always seem to be the attempt to capture more general social attitudes.
This year’s American Values Survey of more than 5,000 Americans, conducted by nonprofit, nonpartisan PRRI, the Public Religion Research Institute, in partnership with the Brookings Institution, finds a picture of an America unhappy with its direction — for different reasons along partisan lines — and a disturbing affinity for wanting to blame migrants for whatever ails us.
It is a general survey that compares attitudes over years and decades about education, religion and identity as well as the more usual election topics. It shows that views on abortion rights and immigration have emerged as a “litmus” test for belonging to one political party or the other, and that concerns about paying for daily life and retirement continue to be paramount.
If you are looking for troubling trends, consider that one of five Republicans are far more likely to support their candidate assuming office by force after an election loss and that 49% see a real danger of a Donald Trump win as opening the door to dictatorship. Almost as many believe that Republicans are so determined to take power that they will resort to political violence, and that twice as many Republicans (27%) as independents or Democrats agree that armed citizens should be poll watchers.
Seven in 10 Americans think the country — and their home state — is going in the wrong direction, they but split on what that “direction” represents. Half the voting public feels that immigration and government spending are sending us to hell, and the other that we’re suffering revocation of individual rights and election undercutting. How we solve for a problem we cannot agree on seems a foolish enterprise.
What seems clear in the various issues is that abortion policy in the reddest states is running against popularity, that gay life generally has become acceptable while trans issues still drive division, and that people trust themselves over most institutions for decision-making.
‘Poisoning our Blood’
Mike Allen, founder of Axios news whose newsletters are barometers of current issues, was struck with the number of people who agree with the statement that immigrants entering the country illegal today are “poisoning the blood of our country,” Trump’s description of border issues with language echoing the rhetoric of white supremacists and Adolf Hitler.
Fully a third of respondents agreed with the statement, and among Republicans that was six in10, as compared with independents (30%) or Democrats (13%). As Allen concludes, “The results suggest that in a nation of immigrants, many Americans have bought into the historically racist rhetoric former President Trump has used to stoke anti-immigrant sentiment.”
The numbers of respondents saying immigrants are spending too many public resources were high, explaining why it is such a repeated political point this year, whether specifically true in Springfield, Ohio, or in other communities. Around one-third of Americans (35%) agree with the statement “immigrants are invading our country and replacing our cultural and ethnic background,” compared with 61% who disagree.
Forget the election, it is the scapegoating of The Other that should stand out. People were not asked whether they agreed that migrant numbers were running higher than they should, or whether they support stronger laws, including the compromise bill rejected by Republicans in Congress after having negotiated it, or whether we need more resources for border or asylum personnel. They were asked to agree with a blatant statement of hate — and a surprising number did so.
Over one-third of Americans say they will only vote for a candidate who shares their views on immigration, with far more white evangelical Protestants (53%) saying that they will only vote for a candidate who shares their views on immigration than other religious affiliations. Those who favor building a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico are more than twice as likely as those who oppose it to say they will only vote for a candidate who shares their views on immigration. The numbers are about the same for gun policies.
Predictably, the attitudes in the poll noted a decline in churchgoing. At a time when news media are seen as taking on values of political parties and institutions, including colleges, are growing suspect as trustworthy sources of information, what is missing from the polling is any useful discussion or correlation of where and how people get information and process it.
If the individual is going to take responsibility from the distrusted “elite” of experts, where is the responsibility to validate opinion as fact or to balance humanitarian values against perceived short-term money gains? Or does any of that matter anymore? Are we just all out for ourselves.
There are plenty of questions in the poll about leadership qualities, but the results all seem to follow the pattern of spitting out responses that align with pre-made choices in the election.
Americans as ‘Soft’
More than four in ten Americans (43%) agree that society as a whole has become too soft and feminine, though that is about five percentage points less than a year ago. Since PRRI first asked this question in 2011, the partisan divide has more than doubled on this question, and again, there is an identifiable Republican split that agrees.
It is not clear what is meant by the phrase or what actions it presupposed we should undertake. Basically the softness sentiment is strongest among white evangelical Protestants (64%), Latter-day Saints (58%), non-evangelical Protestants (55%) and white Catholics (54%). Among non-white Christian groups, only the majority of Hispanic Protestants (55%) agree.
Presumably it is why Trump — and backers like Tucker Carlson — repeated and demand “strength” as a primary concern rather than the note of “who we life up” that marks the Kamala Harris candidacy. It’s why JD Vance is attacking childless cat ladies, while Tim Walz appeals to neighborliness.
Nearly six in ten Americans (59%), led by Republicans, say that over the last four years, the state of race relations in the United States has mostly changed for the worse. Around four in ten Americans (38%) say race relations have changed for the better.
To me, it was a depressing illustration of utter opinion and bias based almost solely on personal reaction rather than on any discernible attempt to look at how these opinions are widening and taking hold. It is a mirror held up to a country that feels increasingly self-concerned and ready to blame someone — anyone — for whatever obstacles are perceived to be in the way.
From the responses, it’s no wonder our politics follow as they do.
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