As the nation continues to sort out the aftermath of a deeply divided presidential election, many narratives will emerge, and citizens should be guarded and skeptical when hearing many. This is because many in the media simplify and then distort reality.
The New York Times, a paper of the nation’s record, continues to publish a steady stream of headlines such as “Biden Asked Republicans to Give Him A Chance: They’re not interested.” This statement is both factually incorrect and dangerous. It helps stoke the flames of the culture wars —exactly what the nation needs to stop doing as it heads into winter during a pandemic.
The Times article relies on no data about actual attitudes toward working with Biden. It is based on a few seemingly unrepresentative interviews that do not square with non-electoral data that we have about the views and beliefs of the voting public.
In reality, Biden’s message of unity and the idea of working with others is welcomed by most people. In fact, Biden’s desire to move past the divisiveness that has marked the Trump presidency is absolutely in line with the idea that Americans are open to working with others and trying to find the middle ground.
Data from AEI’s Survey Center for American Life, collected right before the election, suggest that most Americans believe common ground can be found, though those on the extremes are a bit less optimistic.
Specifically, thousands of Americans were asked if they believed that it was possible to compromise and find common ground with people who disagree. Collectively, 79% believed that common ground can be found, compared to just 19% who felt agreement is simply not possible.
Eighty-four percent of Americans who state that they are ideologically centrist or lean liberal or conservative hold that compromise can be found. Forty-two percent of Americans fall into this group. Respondents who state that they haven’t given much thought to their ideology are lower at 76%, believing that common ground can be found.
There are certainly conservative Americans who do not want to work with Biden and see him and Democrats as untenable, but that does not change the fact that overwhelming majorities in every ideological group want to work together and move the nation forward.
The overwhelming majority of Americans are entering the Biden era with considerable optimism and openness to compromise. This forward-thinking is consistent across many facets of the polity, from geographic region to race and ethnicity. There is also little generational difference. Eighty-one percent of both those in Gen Z and their parents, the baby boomers, hold that compromise can be found, and no other cohort is more than a few points off the national average.
These empirical findings are in line with decades of earlier research on the nation’s socio-political attitudes, which has found that most Americans are thoughtful and reasonable and are regularly subjected to extreme rhetoric and face polarized choices, which are the consequence of an extreme and engaged political elite. The percentage of Americans who are interested in continued partisan one-upmanship at the expense of making progress on our most serious problems represent a small slice of the electorate. However, both Democrats and Republicans are somewhat more interested in the other side compromising than their own.
Fortunately, most Americans are open to working together to compromise and find common ground with those they disagree. Donald Trump’s narrative was the antithesis of what deliberative democracy should be and instead opted to demonize others; President Biden’s more hopeful and collective approach may have some real currency. Sadly, pieces that exaggerate headlines and present a limited number of interviews obfuscate this positive reality.
There are many progressives on the Left who are totally disillusioned by Biden for being uninspiring and not sufficiently progressive who do not want to work with Biden or give him a chance, for instance, which were notably absent in the piece. The article, like many narratives, only covered one facet of reality, and this helps set an incorrect and dangerous agenda for the nation; the New York Times and other outlets have to do better for the overwhelming majority that wants to move forward from the Trump era’s divisiveness and stop treating our opponents as enemies.
Samuel J. Abrams is professor of politics at Sarah Lawrence College and a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.
