A February poll by the Associated Press found that about half of Americans think Democracy isn’t functioning…only 16% think it’s working well. The Pew Research Center finds that only 1/3 of Americans have confidence in the public’s wisdom in making political decisions, a figure that has been cut nearly in half in the last 25 years. 40 percent of Democrats and Republicans see the other party not just as people they disagree with, but as a threat to the well-being of the nation. 3/4 of American adults today say that Republicans and Democrats can’t even agree on basic facts.
It seems like our basic belief in Democracy and our form of government is being strained to the breaking point. But, there are signs of hope. Pew finds that 84 percent think that trust in government can be improved. And 86 percent believe it is possible to improve trust in each other.
So, how much trouble are we really in? Our guest today Karlyn Bowman is an expert on tracking and analyzing American public opinion. She is a distinguished senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and has written extensively for a number of publications about how Americans think. She says maybe the numbers aren’t telling us the story it looks like…and maybe there’s more reason for optimism after all.
