Large Majorities of Americans Agree on Issues Such as Legal Abortion, Gay Equality, Drug Legalization, and More. Why Can’t Our Political Discourse Acknowledge That?

The
“bulk of the American citizenry,” [Stanford Political Scientist
Morris P.] Fiorina cheekily suggests, “is somewhat in the position
of the unfortunate citizens of some third-world countries who try
to stay out of the crossfire while Maoist guerillas and right-wing
death squads shoot at each other.” That’s a pretty good description
of channel surfing between Rachel Maddow and Sean Hannity or
flipping between a White House presser and a John Boehner speech,
isn’t it?

That’s from a
piece I wrote for Time.com on Friday. It looks at how Americans
agree on a wide variety of social and political issues. For
instance, large majorities believe that pot should be legal, that
gay and lesbian relationships are moral, that pot should be legal,
foreign intervention, and that government is too big and too
powerful. Yet our political and media discourse generally refuses
to acknowledge that basic fact.

I use Fiorina’s invaluable work to explain that disjuncture.

Check out the whole column for poll data and the
explanation.