WASHINGTON − As crucial midterm elections loom, a national survey underscores the clashing priorities and partisan distrust that define today's political landscape.
Republicans told a Gallup/With Honor poll that the value the United States needed most now was patriotism; Democrats ranked it last from a list of 12. Democrats said the United States needed equality most; Republicans put it next to last.
Independents chose honesty.
Most Americans were skeptical that the nation's fundamental values, from freedom to fairness, were widely shared across party and other lines.
Many Republicans and Democrats "view the other side as the enemy," said Rye Barcott, CEO and co-founder of With Honor. "It's a much more difficult place to start to bring some trust."
The survey of 3,199 adults in Gallup's probability-based panel, taken online May 12-22, has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.1 percentage points. Results were released to USA TODAY Oct. 26 by Gallup and With Honor, a nonpartisan group that recruits and supports military veterans for elective office and encourages bipartisanship in Congress.
The findings spotlight the size of that task.
Nearly one in four, 24%, said most Americans today shared none of a dozen widely revered values across party lines.
Respecting others' values 'part of the deal'
That said, almost 8 in 10 said that it was more important to respect different values than to share the same ones.
"Respecting one another's values is kind of part of the deal," said Ellyn Maese, a Gallup researcher who worked on the project, calling it "part of a pluralistic society."
Three in four, 76%, said at least one value was shared by Americans regardless of politics or background, though there was little consensus about which one that might be.
Most frequently cited was freedom, chosen by 38%. Least often was humility, chosen by 10%.
Divisions are part of politics, of course.
But the inclination to see the other side as lacking basic principles − even as being a danger to democracy − has grown over the past decade, studies have found. The assumption that the other side is acting in good faith has been eroded by theJan. 6 assaulton the Capitol, attacks on thelegitimacy of elections, allegations of the weaponization of governmental powers and more.
Who can you trust?
The number of Republicans describing Democrats as more immoral than other Americans rose from 47% in 2016 to 72% in 2022, the Pew Research Center found. Among Democrats, that negative view of Republicans grew from 35% to 63%.
"We are constantly navigating keeping together trust across party lines on issues that matter, especially national security," Barcott, a Marine veteran and author of "Courage Can Save US," published in June. "It's hard, especially when a lot of the incentives are not to work across party lines."
The Gallup poll found some generational differences.
Among those 40 and older, 28% said none of the values were shared by most Americans, a more pessimistic outlook than younger adults held. Among those under 40, 18% saw no shared values.
Members of the Baby Boom generation were more likely to see kindness as a broadly shared value, cited by 33% of those 65 and older. Just 21% of those under 40, a mix of Gen Z and Millennials, agreed.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Divided nation: Republicans prize patriotism, Democrats equality-Poll
