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Sunday, February 10th, 2019

Republicans and Democrats have grown further apart on what the nation’s top priorities should be

Author:     BRADLEY JONES
Source:     Pew Research Center
Publication Date:     FEBRUARY 5, 2019
 Link: Republicans and Democrats have grown further apart on what the nation’s top priorities should be
Stephan:   I have been writing about what I have called The Great Schism Trend for a decade, watching it become more and more obvious and the differences more irreconcilable. I think this trend has the power to change the fundamental structure of the country, producing a United States in which the federal forms remain, but real power moves to the states and blocs of states. Not that it will, but that the potential for that path is increasing. Watch for moves to eliminate the Electoral College, with which I agree. Blue states complaining about underwriting the failure of Red states, which is a factual reality. Climate change is going to stress states in different ways, and with different intensities. They are going to choose their own paths.  On top of that the damage the Trump administration is doing to the structure of governance,  the country's social policies, and its infrastructure is going to take years to fix. At least two more until the Senate can be turned, and then years of repair, in a world under growing stress.

Republicans and Democrats have long held differing views about policy solutions, but throughout most of the recent past there was rough partisan agreement about the set of issues that were the top priorities for the nation.

However, that is less and less the case. Republicans and Democrats have been moving further apart not just in their political values and approaches to addressing the issues facing the country, but also on the issues they identify as top priorities for the president and Congress to address.

For more than two decades, Pew Research Center has tracked the public’s priorities, including in our most recent survey.

While many issues are considered high priorities by majorities in both parties today, there is virtually no common ground in the priorities that rise to the top of the lists for Democrats and Republicans.

Among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, health care costs, education, the environment, Medicare and assistance for poor and needy people top the list of priorities (all are named as top priorities by seven-in-ten or more Democrats). None of these is among the five leading top priorities for Republicans and Republican-leaning independents (Medicare and health care […]

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1 Comment

  1. Rev. Dean on Sunday, February 10, 2019 at 9:34 am

    It looks like the Republicans have lost their moral compass.