Gallup Finds Record Percentage of Adults Think America Is ‘Greatly Divided’ on Core Values

If you’ve paid even a modicum of attention to the intentional divisiveness in the 2024 presidential election campaign, it should come as no surprise that the results of a new Gallup poll released on Monday show that a record percentage of Americans believe the country is sharply divided on core values.

Moreover, the reasons behind the divisiveness should be clear, as well. We’ll get there in a minute.

According to the poll, a whopping eight out of 10 American adults say the country is “greatly divided” on core values ahead of November’s presidential election, while just 18 percent of respondents to this year’s survey think the country is “united or in agreement about the most important values.”

I presume those 18 percent — regardless of party affiliation — live under a rock.

Here’s more, via Gallup:

Public skepticism about national unity isn’t new. Surveys by Gallup and others dating back to the 1990s show that Americans typically have seen the country as divided on key values. Only in 2001 and 2002, in the aftermath of 9/11, did Gallup find most Americans perceiving the opposite, with over two-thirds of U.S. adults believing the nation was united.

The latest results are based on an Aug. 1-20 Gallup poll. The question was first asked on the General Social Survey in 1993 and has been updated by various organizations since, including periodic Gallup measures since 2001. The “most important values” are not defined for respondents but left to their own interpretation.

Americans from all backgrounds have similar views — between 74% and 83% of key gender, age, race, political and educational subgroups perceive the nation as divided in the current survey.

In most years, Democrats, Republicans and independents have held similar views of whether the nation is united or divided. However, there were significant party gaps in 2004, 2012 and 2016.

• Republicans were more likely than Democrats to see the country as united by 15 percentage points twice — in 2004, when Republican George W. Bush sought and won a second term as president, and in 2016, after Republican Donald Trump’s surprise victory in that year’s presidential election.
• Democrats perceived more unity in the country by 18 points in 2012, after Democratic President Barack Obama was reelected.In the four other years for which party identification data are available, the average party gap has been six points, including four points in the latest survey.

  In the four other years for which party identification data are available, the average party gap has been six points, including four points in the latest survey.

  In the four other years for which party identification data are available, the average party gap has been six points, including four points in the latest survey. […]

— Read More: redstate.com