These days, it seems like every election is the most consequential ever. That includes the midterms. Still, a majority of registered voters will likely opt out of exercising their Constitutional franchise on November 6 (even though a record turnout for mid-terms is anticipated).
YouGov recently conducted a poll of 8,000 Americans for the “Hidden Tribes of America” project. It reveals that only 14% of the public is “highly engaged” politically. This number includes people on the hard left and hard right who are fueled as much by hatred for each other as by their own values. Meanwhile, fully two-thirds of us are “politically exhausted,” and that includes 37% of us who are “politically disengaged” or “passive.”
These results do not bode well for our democracy, but I doubt they are surprising to anybody reading this. Most of the people I talk to – whether they lean left or right – are just tired of it all, if not outright disgusted at the gridlock, the partisanship, the tribalism, and loss of ideals that once defined us as a nation. Of course, if you’re part of that 14%, you are already shouting that those are all reasons to get involved! But we may not appreciate the extent to which our political peril, a downward spiral that is at least 25 years old, has psychologically pummeled otherwise responsible civic-minded people into a state of near hopelessness. (Let me just say that, even if you feel exhausted or disengaged, you can still vote, and I hope you do. Nobody but you and God need to know how you vote.)
