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On today’s episode of The Daily Signal Podcast, we examine why America is so polarized—or is it? If you were to believe the national news media, our country is more divided than ever. But research from More in Common, an organization focused on building a more united America, suggests there’s hope for the future. We speak with Stephen Hawkins, the global director of research, about the “perception gap” and “hidden tribes” of America.
Plus, it’s been 50 years since President Lyndon Johnson declared a war on poverty. So how are we doing? Genevieve Wood brings us a commentary.
We also read your letters to the editor, and share a good news story about how one simple purchase at Payless Shoes led a family to provide thousands of pairs of shoes for kids in need.
The Daily Signal podcast is available on Ricochet, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or your favorite podcast app. All of our podcasts can be found at http://dailysignal.com/podcasts.
Enjoy the show!
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Stephen Hawkins explains the finding, reported earlier, that the more degrees a Democrat has, the less accurately he is able to describe Republicans’ views; while the same is not true of Republicans with degrees describing Democratic views.
The reason turns out to be that, as a Democrat obtains more degrees, he has fewer and fewer Republicans and conservatives in his “friend circle”, so all of his knowledge is second-hand and from biased sources.
Hawkins suggests that we should try to maintain more conversations across political boundaries.
This is advice that conservatives will readily adopt.
The problem is, the last thing liberals want is to talk to conservatives.
Indeed they don’t want conservatives talking at all. To anybody.
Liberals get immense gratification from their political worldview, which ascribes great virtue and intelligence to liberals, and requires little or no effort on their part. The last thing they want is somebody popping their balloon.