BY GARY FIELDS AND AMELIA THOMSON DEVEAUX
WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite the
country’s deep political polarization, most Americans share many core beliefs
about what it means to be an American, according to a new poll.
The poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public
Affairs Research found that about 9 in 10 U.S. adults say the right to vote,
the right to equal protection under the law and the right to privacy are
extremely important or very important to the United States’ identity as a
nation. The survey also found that 84% feel the same way about the freedom of
religion.
The results, which included perspectives on a number of
different freedoms and rights, have only small variances between Republicans
and Democrats except on the right to bear arms, which Republicans are more
likely to see as core to the nation’s identity. The overall findings are
striking because they come at a time of extreme partisanship when political
agreements seem rare and concerns are heightened over the potential for
violence during a volatile presidential election year.
“If you get a bunch of normal people at random and put them
in a room together and chat about issues, there’s a lot more convergence than
you might imagine,” said Michael Albertus, a
political science professor at the
A more pessimistic assessment of the country was reflected
in another finding — that only about 3 in 10 Americans believe the nation’s
democracy is functioning well. About half say the
The tension between the broad consensus on the country’s
fundamental values and discontent with how well its form of government is
working is not a surprise, experts say.
“Part of it is really our leaders are not reflecting the
electorate, and they behave in a way that’s much more polarized than what the
electorate is,” said Lilliana Mason, a political
scientist at Johns Hopkins University.
Most Americans, she said, “are pretty moderate, but they’ve
been riled up to hate people of the other party for being different from them
culturally, racially and religiously.”
The AP-NORC poll also found broad agreement on the
importance of some key values for the
But what achieving that dream means — and which values are
most fundamental to American culture — isn’t something all Americans agree on.
Democrats are more likely than Republicans — 71% to 38% — to
believe that the ability to come to the U.S. from elsewhere in the world to
escape violence or find economic opportunities is core to the country’s
identity. A majority of Republicans, 58%, think a culture grounded in Christian
values and beliefs is an essential characteristic, compared to only 18% of
Democrats.
Juan Sierra, 51, a naturalized citizen whose family
immigrated from the Dominican Republic after a hurricane destroyed his father’s
cement business, said it is very important to him that the
The industrial technician in
Sierra also said it was extremely important that people have
freedom of religion, although he had concerns over the nation’s identity being
tied to Christianity.
“We’re seeing what happens right now when laws are passed
and decisions are made based on someone’s religion,” he said, citing the
Alabama Supreme Court ruling in February that frozen embryos can be considered
children and be afforded legal protections, a decision that temporarily halted
IVF procedures in the state.
Susan Johnson, a 76-year-old Republican living in the
“We need people working,” she said. “We just need them to
come the right way.”
Johnson also said she believes it’s extremely important that
the nation’s identity be grounded in spirituality.
“Whether or not you’re Mormon or a Muslim or a Christian,
they just have to have some higher power to reach up to,” she said. “The
country is going to fall apart if we don’t believe in God.”
The poll found few divisions on democracy as a system in
theory, but it identified one notable gap: younger Americans between the ages
of 18 to 29 were less likely than those 60 and older to say the
Palakjot Singh, a 21-year-old
college student in
“There is not good communication,” he said. “Nobody is
sitting together trying to get to one point.”
Howard Lavine, a political science
professor at the University of Minnesota, said the generational split is
understandable. Many younger people don’t remember a time when those with
opposing views and from different political backgrounds could get together and
“come over to your house.” Their frame of reference is the hyper partisanship
of the Trump years, he said.
Joe Lagle, 55, a retired Air Force
veteran in Colorado Springs who said he has not voted for either President Joe Biden or Trump, said the nation’s various rights are “all
important” but believes they are being eroded by intolerance and well-meaning
but shortsighted people.
Mike Maloy, 41, an engineer in Greensboro,
North Carolina, said having those rights and freedoms “doesn’t necessarily mean
the
“Everything is run by a handful of people and their
corporations,” he said. “That’s not a democracy.”
A Democrat, Maloy cited as an
example this year’s presidential primary in
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The poll of 1,282 adults was conducted
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Associated Press polling writer Linley
Sanders contributed to this report.
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