Republican pollster Ed Goeas said in an interview that aired Thursday on “What America’s Thinking” that the U.S. is in a “death spiral” when it comes to civility in politics.
“I do think that we are very definitely in a death spiral in terms of civility in this country, how we treat each other, how we talk about each other,” Goeas, the president and CEO of the Tarrance Group, told Hill.TV’s Jamal Simmons on Wednesday.
“The term that surfaced in this last election was tribalism, and it does have a little bit of the component to it, and again, it’s all be aggravated by the selective watching of cable news and the use of social media,” he continued.
Last month’s midterm election results demonstrated a deeply partisan electorate in the U.S. amid heated political rhetoric coming from both sides of the aisle.
Polling shows that civility in politics is a point of major concern for Americans.
A PBS News Hour/NPR/Marist poll released last month found that 79 percent of Americans said they were concerned about the negative tone in U.S. politics and think it could lead to violence.
— Julia Manchester
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