Divided Nation, Not Evenly So

 

A common view holds that America is sharply divided into two camps of roughly equal size. Yes, the last three presidential elections were nearly even, with the winner gaining 51% (2020), 46% (2016), and 51% (2012), and last time Congress finished evenly split.

The HIDDEN TRIBES study, however, suggests a more unbalanced divide between elite and ordinary people.  

A one-by-one look at high-profile issues separates us into six “tribes” below the elite — 11% traditional liberals (boomers), 15% passive liberals (healthcare key), 26% disengaged (few voting, no college), 15% moderates (media influenced, but anti-“politically correct”), 19% traditional conservatives (worry about terrorism, no jobs), 6% devoted conservatives (border wall, church-supporting). On top with only 8% — the “progressive activists.” 

The progressive elite differs from the group average by being: 

• More than twice as likely to list politics as a hobby (73% v. 35%)

• Much less likely to believe the world is becoming “more dangerous ” (19% v. 38%)

• More than twice as likely to say that they never pray (50% v. 19%)

• Almost three times more likely to be “ashamed to be an American” (69% v. 24%)

• More likely to say they are proud of their political ideology (64% v. 43%)

• More likely to be white (80% v. 69%)

• Twice as likely to have completed college (59% v. 29%)

Progressive Activists are secure, feeling safer than any other group. They have an outsized role in public debates, even though they comprise just 21 million adult Americans. They preach equity regarding race, gender, and minority group identities. 

Writing about these HIDDEN TRIBES,  Alexander Zubatov notes how education separates the progressive activists from the rest. In university social sciences and humanities departments, progressives outnumber conservatives 58% to 5% and 52% to 4% respectively. But 61% of us agree universities are headed in the wrong direction, and enrollment is on the downswing.

Related Big Tech also has a pronounced leftward tilt, with only 1% of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft employee contributions to political campaigns going to Republicans. Big Tech’s largest donation recipient in 2018 (receiving $1 billion) was ActBlue, the progressive fundraising platform. This as 45% of Americans hold a negative view of Big Tech, against 34% with a positive view. 

Washington Examiner's Salena Zito writes that those on top (corporations, entertainment, institutions, media, government) have decided they can accumulate more power by dividing people using race, gender, vocation, and education achievement.

Because Joe Biden beat Trump in 2020, many missed how Congressional and other down-ballot races moved center-right that year. In 2021, when Virginia, New Jersey and other states and cities went even further center-right, Democrats, corporations, media, institutions, and Hollywood responded by calling voters racist. And, of course, they blamed Trump.

Look how corporations and the media display their cultural overreach in advertisements, in entertainment, in their social justice positions, pushing people even further away. In their bubble, progressive activists don’t realize how people have grown weary of having everything they thought, did, bought, and wore being called racist. Progressive activists are the 8%, the 21 million, far from the majority.