Skip to content
Project 2025
Search

Latest Stories

Follow Us:
Top Stories
Medicare Health Insurance Card. Social Security Card with Stethoscope and pen

Saving Medicare Republicans Are Privatizing Medicare

May 5 primary ballot issues affect Ohioans' daily lives

May 5 primary ballot issues affect Ohioans' daily lives

Prediction Markets Are Gambling, Despite What They Tell The Government

Prediction Markets Are Gambling, Despite What They Tell The Government

MAGA is starting to question Trump

MAGA is starting to question Trump

Just the Facts: What the Iran Nuclear Deal Was and Why It Matters

Just the Facts: What the Iran Nuclear Deal Was and Why It Matters

Increasing shares of partisans see members of the other party as ‘closed-minded’ and ‘immoral’

The partisan divide is getting worse

Increasing shares of partisans see members of the other party as ‘closed-minded’ and ‘immoral’
The Fulcrum
By The FulcrumOct 11, 2019
The Fulcrum
The Fulcrum staff.
See More Writings by author
Increasing shares of partisans see members of the other party as ‘closed-minded’ and ‘immoral’

How bad is the partisan division in this country?

Roughly half or more Republicans and Democrats believe members of the other party are more "closed-minded" and "unpatriotic" than other Americans, according to a new survey by Pew Research Center. Nearly two-thirds of Republicans see others as unpatriotic, while only 23 percent of Democrats feel that way.

The survey, which was conducted in early September and before Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced plans to pursue an impeachment inquiry against President Trump, revealed a growing animosity that has festered since Pew last conducted a similar survey three years ago.

Compared to the 2016 survey, the share of partisan Americans who believe the other side is closed-minded or immoral has spiked, with double-digit increases in the percentage of Republicans who believed Democrats were "more closed-minded" and Democrats who said Republicans were "more immoral" than other Americans.

Politics and name-calling aside, the majority of Republicans and Democrats also said the two sides didn't share many of their "values and goals" and roughly three-fourths of those surveyed said they not only disagreed on "plans and policies" but also couldn't agree on "basic facts."


Republicans and Democrats agree that they cannot agree on 'basic facts'


The negative vibes are clearly being internalized: Nearly 80 percent of those surveyed said the division between Republicans and Democrats is getting worse. Yet, only 46 percent said they were "very" concerned about it, with another 36 percent saying they were "somewhat" concerned.


Increasing shares of partisans see members of the other party as ‘closed-minded’ and ‘immoral’

Latest news

Beyond the Politics: The Human Cost Behind the Israel–Iran Conflict
Community

Beyond the Politics: The Human Cost Behind the Israel–Iran Conflict

Silver sign of Department of Justice on a classical concrete wall with plants as foreground.
Governance & Legislation

The Ku Klux Klan Returns to Power

The Civility Trap
Bridging & Common Ground

The Civility Trap

House Democrats and Republicans Clash over Free Speech in Higher Education
Governance & Legislation

House Democrats and Republicans Clash over Free Speech in Higher Education

Read More

Primary Elections Skew Representation: Inside the 2026 Primary Problem
us a flag on mans shoulder
Photo by Manny Becerra on Unsplash

Primary Elections Skew Representation: Inside the 2026 Primary Problem

Earlier this year, the Bridge Alliance and the National Academy of Public Administration launched the Fellows for Democracy and Public Service Initiative to strengthen the country's civic foundations. This fellowship unites the Academy’s distinguished experts with the Bridge Alliance’s cross‑sector ecosystem to elevate distributed leadership throughout the democracy reform landscape. Instead of relying on traditional, top‑down models, the program builds leadership ecosystems—spaces where people share expertise, prioritize collaboration, and use public‑facing storytelling to renew trust in democratic institutions. Each fellow grounds their work in one of six core sectors essential to a thriving democratic republic.

Below is an interview with Beth Hladick. Beth is the Policy Director at Unite America, where she oversees original research and commissions studies that diagnose the problems with party primaries and evaluate the effectiveness of reform solutions. In addition to her research portfolio, Beth leads outreach efforts to educate stakeholders on elections and reform. She brings a nonpartisan perspective shaped by her experience at the National Conference of State Legislatures, the Oregon State Legislature, and the U.S. Senate.

Keep ReadingShow less
Whenever political violence erupts, Washington starts playing the blame game

Agents draw their guns after loud bangs were heard during the White House Correspondents' dinner at the Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C., on April 25, 2026. President Trump is attending the annual gala of the political press for the first time while in office.

(Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images/TNS)

Whenever political violence erupts, Washington starts playing the blame game

A heavily armed California man was caught trying to storm the White House correspondents’ dinner Saturday with the apparent intent to kill the president.

It didn’t take long for Washington to start arguing. Democrats denounce violent rhetoric from the right, but the alleged assailant seemed to be inspired by his own rhetoric. President Trump, after initially offering some unifying remarks about defending free speech, soon started accusing the press of encouraging violence against him. Critics pounced on the hypocrisy.

Keep ReadingShow less
Teenager admiring electronic hobby robot.

Explore how China is overtaking the U.S. in the global innovation race, from electric vehicles to advanced research, and why America’s fragmented science policy, talent loss, and weak industrial strategy threaten its technological leadership.

Getty Images, Willie B. Thomas

America’s Greatest Geopolitical Blind Spot

The global hierarchy of innovation is undergoing a structural shift that Washington is dangerously slow to acknowledge. For decades, the prevailing narrative in the United States was that China was merely the "world’s factory"—a nation capable of mass-producing Western designs but inherently lacking the creative spark to invent its own. This assumption has been shattered. Today, Beijing is no longer playing catch-up; in sectors ranging from electric vehicles and next-generation nuclear power to hypersonic missiles, China is setting the pace.

The central challenge is that China has mastered the entire innovation ecosystem, while the United States has allowed its own to fracture. Innovation is not just about a "eureka" moment in a laboratory; it is a relay race that begins with basic scientific research, moves through the training of specialized talent, and ends with the large-scale commercialization of "hard tech." China is currently winning every leg of that race.

Keep ReadingShow less
© Copyright 2026