democracy now

ALERT
SEEKING COMMON GROUND

Williams: Our democracy is being torched. A survey out of UVA suggests many voters are willing to watch it burn.

Michael Paul Williams 3 hrs ago

A falsehood-fed fire is engulfing American democracy, where more than half of Trump voters — and 4 out of 10 Biden voters — support secession from the union.

Those startling numbers are from an online survey by the University of Virginia Center for Politics in partnership with Project Home Fire, an initiative “dedicated to finding common ground in American politics.”

According to their survey, 52% of the respondents who voted for Donald Trump and 41% of those who voted for Joe Biden at least somewhat agree with the idea of states seceding from the union. One in four Trump voters strongly agreed.

Eight out of 10 voters for each man view elected officials from the opposition party as “a clear and present danger to American democracy.” Four out of 10 respondents could support a president operating without checks and balances. And 4 out of 10 Trump voters surveyed strongly agree that the nation needs a powerful leader “to destroy the radical and immoral currents in our society today,” according to findings of an online survey of more than 1,000 Trump and Biden voters in late July and early August.

“I was surprised that such a large percentage on both sides want the other side to secede,” said Larry Sabato, founder and director of the Center for Politics. “That’s beyond stunning. It’s threatening.”

Didn’t we settle this matter 160 years ago?

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This nation was built not on common ground, but on a foundation of inequality. A home that’s truth-resistant will never be flame-resistant.

mwilliams@timesdispatch.com

(804) 649-6815

Twitter: @RTDMPW