The New York Times hired a firm to select focus groups of Democrats and Republicans and have them discuss the “state of America.” The Democrats, at least to me, sounded normal. They were worried about the future of democracy, about the lies, about Trump running again in 2024. They all thought the state of the country was worse than a few decades ago.
The Republicans agreed that the condition of democracy was poor, but they were irritated with mandates and lockdowns and the federal government “taking over.” One said the reason that Democrats were always talking about Covid was because they wanted to push mail-in ballots. One hoped that future historians would include “both sides” of the January 6th insurrection, and another said historians should also mention “How the Democrats invaded the White House.” When asked how many believed that Trump had really won the election, five of the seven Republicans raised their hands.
The polarization of the country is bad. We need to reach out. But how can we reach out to people who are so entrenched in their beliefs that Trump won an election and that there were two sides to the Jan. 6 insurrection. That is like trying to reason with crazy people.
The report on the focus groups was in the Jan. 8 issue, p. A21.
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