This July Fourth, the American public has plenty to worry about. U.S. adults are dissatisfied in general with the way things are going in the country and have record-low American pride. They are worried about the coronavirus and dissatisfied with the state of race relations, and the majority have negative views of the job being done by both the executive and legislative branches of government. Most news coverage is negative, aided and abetted by the media’s time-honored assumption that bad news is what journalists are duty-bound to report. Plus, the gloom and doom is accelerated by the rabid political polarization that produces leaders whose main purpose appears to be to find fault with and villainize the opposition.
But are there some things going right today? I thought it might be useful on this holiday weekend to briefly highlight a few points from public opinion polling that provide some optimism and hope that all is not lost. CONT.
Frank Newport, Gallup