.webp)
These days, political developments are moving at the speed of light. President Joe Biden stumbling to form coherent sentences during the first Presidential debate was almost immediately followed by the failed assassination attempt on Donald Trump’s life.
Fast forward two weeks, and suddenly Joe Biden decides that he won’t be seeking reelection and Kamala Harris will be heading the Democrat ticket.
Unless you’re a partisan die-hard committed to Team Red or Team Blue, you’re likely frustrated with the lack of choices and dramatic partisan rhetoric drowning out serious policy conversations. A recent Independent Center study determined that 83% of adult respondents claimed that America can do better.
In the survey, respondents expressed concerns about how well federally elected officials are doing their job, with 82% saying we can do better.
When asked about our choices for the upcoming presidential election, 67% said that we can do better.
And guess how did the participants respond when asked about how America was doing as a whole? 86% said that we can do better.
America, voters agree that you’re capable of so much more. We CAN do better.
If you’re listening to cable news, you’d be inclined to believe that our country is on the cusp of disaster. Republicans and Democrats are constantly painting the opposing side as a threat to democracy and our way of life. This election (like every election that we’ve ever had) is the most important of our lifetime.
But the majority of Americans aren’t buying this rhetoric. Millennials (ages 28-43) and Gen Z (ages 12-27) are positioned to be the majority of the electorate in the upcoming election. These Americans are far more likely to identify as political independents than older generations.
Today, America is more diverse than it’s ever been. If you were to zoom in on a local neighborhood in suburban America, it wouldn’t be a shock to find an interracial couple, a family of first-generation Americans, or non-native English speakers.
As divided as the two parties want you to believe that we are, we’ve actually reached a consensus on lots of different things. For the vast majority of Americans, gay marriage is a settled issue. As of May, Gallup reports that 85% of Americans believe that abortion should be legal in some circumstances. A poll published by Pew Research Center in March discovered that nearly 90% of Americans supported marijuana legalization in certain instances.
On social issues, America has broadly adopted a moderately liberal stance, according to Gallup. “Despite some fluctuation over time, liberal identification on social issues has gradually increased, while conservative and moderate identification has each gradually decreased slightly.”
While Americans have moved more socially liberal, we remain more moderate and conservative on economic issues.
Yet, Americans are left with a two-party system that doesn’t represent this syncretism. In the same poll, 56% of respondents don’t believe the current system benefits the country and that we could use more options.
In other words, Americans agree on a moderately liberal social policy, a moderately conservative economic policy and that we can do better electorally.
Voters in America might be less-than-pleased about the state of politics, but they’re overwhelmingly optimistic about their personal lives. In a poll focused on millennial Americans (28-43 year olds) conducted by the Bullfinch Group in August of 2022, nearly 77% of respondents believed that they would be better off personally in a year.
This is because this generation is at the early stages of household formation. They’re getting married and having kids. If they’re lucky, they’re close to putting a down payment on a house and moving to the suburbs. Many are advancing up the ladder in their careers.
In other words, they’re living their version of the American Dream.
America, we can do better. This isn’t a cry of despair. It’s a challenge to be embraced.
Millennials and Gen Z are ready to take on these issues. From fixing our broken immigration system to reforming entitlement programs that are driving our unsustainable debt, these Americans know that this country can do better.
The two-party duopoly directly benefits from painting a portrait of a hyper-polarized America. However, polling shows that the majority of Americans have much more in common than the existing system would like us to believe.
Realizing this is the first step in addressing our nation’s most significant challenges and creating a government that’s receptive to what American voters actually want.
