For example, where devoted conservatives thought only 29 percent of Democrat respondents would agree with the statement: ‘The United States should have open borders,’ 71 percent actually agreed with such a statement. On the flip side, progressives activists thought a mere 32 percent of Republicans would agree with the statement: ‘Racism still exists in America.' But in reality, nearly 80 percent of Republicans actually agreed with the statement.
In fact, there was a perception gap between both groups in every major political issue included in the study.
Mass media loves to feed the idea that the views of the radical are synonymous with the views of the whole, which is simply not true. In fact, the same study found that consumption of media increases the gap, with variations depending on the type of media, of course. Interestingly, the study found that watching media associated with the other political party led to a decrease in the perception gap (e.g., Democrats watching Fox News and Republicans watching CNN).
As the More in Common study demonstrated, we have a lot more in common with our neighbors than we think we do. This makes me even more confident that even under disagreement, we can use our similarities to find common ground and continue to advance this country. Issues do not have to be as black and white as the media describes them to be.
Keep in mind, this does not mean we abandon all types of media. It would be unwise to group all types of media together and label them all as falsely polarizing issues. It simply means we diversify our consumption and think rationally about their claims. Seeing how the first presidential debate is on Tuesday, I recommend the same to the blue and red nominees as well.
Most of the country believes we are divided. But, ironically, we also agree on more societal issues than we believe we do. Whereas the default is to assume we already know our neighbors’ views, which keeps issues polarized, we ought to instead discuss these issues and truly try to understand the opposing view.
If we start to have these conversations, I think we’ll find we all have a lot more in common than we think. Those who identify as Republican and Democrat will likely have different viewpoints on how to reach a certain goal, but more likely than not, we all agree on what the goal is. If we can at least get to that point, we are much more likely to find solutions.
@dthopinion | opinion@dailytarheel.com
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September 28, 2020 at 10:43AM
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