Jan twenty second 2022
Washington, DC
WHEN IT COMES to boosterism, Americans are sometimes second to none. Yet new polling from YouGov/The Economist means that amongst Democratic voters, pessimism about their very own nation is exceptionally rife.
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Among some 1,500 folks requested on the finish of 2021, almost 1 / 4 of those that voted for Mr Biden within the 2020 election stated that on issues of homosexual rights America ranks in direction of the underside in contrast with the remainder of the world. Only 8% of Trump voters positioned America so low. Their view would appear nearer to actuality: a 2021 examine from the Williams Institute, a gay-rights think-tank on the University of California, Los Angeles, ranked America within the high fifteenth percentile for LGBT acceptance amongst 175 international locations surveyed, forward of Italy, Austria and Japan.
Biden voters are even gloomier about different social points. Some 40% say America is among the many world’s worst on minority rights (solely 11% of Trump voters thought so). Nearly half of Biden voters, towards 14% of Trump ones, are equally damning of America’s acceptance of migrants and refugees (see chart). Gallup polling from 2019 suggests Americans are literally fairly sympathetic to migrants. On a composite measure of migrant acceptance, America was the sixth-most-welcoming nation out of 145.
If some Democrats have a tendency to carry excessively dismal views of their nation, many Republicans do the alternative. For instance, 40% of Trump voters ranked America among the many finest on revenue inequality, ignoring the rising inequality that locations it nicely beneath the worldwide median.
Patriotism is a part of the Republican model. But why do Democrats gravitate to gloom? Some progressive college students say it helps to propel their activism.
Asking Americans, or anybody for that matter, to mirror on “the rest of the world” is thorny. People anchor themselves to what’s acquainted—international locations they’ve been to or cultures they will relate to. Though Republican voters are generally caricatured as provincial, many Democratic voters appear unaware of their comparative success. Even if Biden voters answered our ballot with solely different wealthy democracies in thoughts, this implies a parochial view of the world that Democrats sometimes ascribe to their opponents.
In balancing America’s relative faults and virtues, self-identifying independents tracked far more intently with Republicans than with Democrats. Since elections are likely to hinge on the votes of independents, this implies that Democratic pessimism could also be self-defeating. On issues of American exceptionalism, some blue voters might do with extra shades of gray.
For extra protection of Joe Biden’s presidency, go to our devoted hub and comply with alongside as we monitor shifts in his approval score. For unique perception and studying suggestions from our correspondents in America, signal as much as Checks and Balance, our weekly e-newsletter.
This article appeared within the United States part of the print version beneath the headline “The worst or the perfect?”