Sunday, November 05, 2017

THERE ARE TWO AMERICAS, BUT THIS ISN'T WHAT THEY LOOK LIKE

In response to a new Trump poll from The Washington Post and ABC, Axios illustrates a Mike Allen post with these photos:



It's true that there are two Americas right now. But the the split isn't riled-up Trump supporters vs. angry progressives. It's Trump vs. everyone else in America.

Look at the numbers in the poll.



It isn't just Democrats who oppose Trump -- 63% of independents do as well. And among Democrats, it isn't just the ones on the left who oppose Trump. Moderate and conservative Democrats do, too, by an overwhelming margin:



In fact, Trump is opposed by 65% of moderates across party lines -- and even 31% of conservatives:



As you can see, the only people who like Trump are conservative Republicans. They're the outliers.

Only part of the anti-Trump America is angry resisters marching in the streets. But when the pro-Trump/anti-Trump split is framed that way, the implication is that we're at war in America because of loud, angry partisans on both sides (who are always a minority of Americans), while everyone else is arrayed somewhere in the middle.

But everyone else isn't arrayed in the middle right now. The vast majority of people between the two poles also dislike Trump.

Disliking Trump is normative. Liking Trump is not. Everyone needs to understand that.

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