A new survey found Democrats live with less political diversity despite being more tolerant of it - with startling results
liberal bubble
© Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast
In a surprising new national survey, members of each major American political party were asked what they imagined to be the beliefs held by members of the other. The survey asked Democrats: "How many Republicans believe that racism is still a problem in America today?" Democrats guessed 50%. It's actually 79%. The survey asked Republicans how many Democrats believe "most police are bad people". Republicans estimated half; it's really 15%.

The survey, published by the thinktank More in Common as part of its Hidden Tribes of America project, was based on a sample of more than 2,000 people. One of the study's findings: the wilder a person's guess as to what the other party is thinking, the more likely they are to also personally disparage members of the opposite party as mean, selfish or bad. Not only do the two parties diverge on a great many issues, they also disagree on what they disagree on.

This much we might guess. But what's startling is the further finding that higher education does not improve a person's perceptions - and sometimes even hurts it. In their survey answers, highly educated Republicans were no more accurate in their ideas about Democratic opinion than poorly educated Republicans. For Democrats, the education effect was even worse: the more educated a Democrat is, according to the study, the less he or she understands the Republican worldview.


Comment: So higher education in the US not only indebts the country's youth for no good reason, it hurts the country. Literally, you're worse off if you're 'more informed' by the 'consensus reality', which is not based on reality.


"This effect," the report says, "is so strong that Democrats without a high school diploma are three times more accurate than those with a postgraduate degree." And the more politically engaged a person is, the greater the distortion.

What could be going on? Bubble-ism, the report suggests. Even more than their Republican counterparts, highly educated Democrats tend to live in exclusively Democratic enclaves. The more they report "almost all my friends hold the same political views", the worse their guesses on what Republicans think.

So do they believe in sticking with their own? No. When asked in a Pew survey whether it's important to live in a place "where most people share my political views", half of conservatives and only a third of liberals agreed. Although in principle more tolerant of political diversity, highly educated - and mostly urban - Democrats live, ironically, with less of it.


Comment: This means that they lie to themselves more than 'conservatives'. They spout one thing while simultaneously behaving the opposite way. This is why, these days, such dangerous ideologies as 'gender theory' tends to emanate from their side of the political spectrum. They lie to themselves to a dangerous and pathological degree, while pseudo-earnestly believing that their beliefs and actions are consistent...


Something besides city living may be going on. Particularly among highly engaged Democrats, I think many are in grief. The recent losses have been hard to absorb: the presidency. The supreme court. The Senate. A majority of governorships. And of states in which the governor and both houses of the state legislatures are controlled by the same party, 22 are Republican and 14 Democratic. Withdrawal from the Paris agreement. Neil Gorsuch. Voter suppression. Children in cages. The future of the party highly unclear. Democrats are now the ones who feel like strangers in their own land.


Comment: Yes, the more 'educated' ones, ensconced in their liberal-cosmopolitan islands and phantasmagorical existence.


In the face of loss or personal crisis - whether a pink slip, a medical issue or political defeat - most of us turn inward toward what feels self-confirming, comforting and safe. During the Great Depression, and more recently in the aftermath of the 2008 crash, those who had lost homes and jobs tended to volunteer less, visit less and generally retreat from the world, sometimes thereby making a bad situation worse. Today's wounded warriors of the left - including many women and voters of color who have struggled mightily and fear their progress is in danger of going up in smoke - may feel a similar need for the familiar.


Comment: They feel - and act out - the petulant anger of narcissism.


Being home surely restores one's spirits. But in the long run, staying home leads to trouble. It keeps the left from knowing what it needs to know, good news and bad. It further marginalizes it. After all, in the heat of battle, the most brilliant generals are not those who insult the enemy from inside their own tent. It is those who most astutely gauge the troop count, the terrain and quirks of the opposing general.

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