Article on partisan "hate' & how calming messages from elites can reduce it (research from @NathanKalmoe & @LilyMasonPhD). Their 2017 survey finds 40% of Rs & Ds say the other party is "evil" w 15% willing to condone violence against the opposition.
washingtonpost.com/opinions/ameri…
washingtonpost.com/opinions/ameri…
Key point on the defusing effect. This is the OPPOSITE of what Republican voters get from Trump, and as the GOP has adopted Trumpism, the Republican Party more broadly speaking. In addition to the over-the-top media rhetoric that got voters to that 1st 40%, since this survey,
we've lived in a world where the rhetoric from MAINSTREAM Republican officials mirrors not only Trump, which is very over the top, but also the most fringe elements of the right-wing media world. In other words, what was once fringe is now the mainstream in the party. To consume
fundraising emails from GOP politicians or to watch even "mainstream" right-wing outlets like Fox News today is to be exposed to an endless stream of rhetoric that describes America in apoplectic terms, tin foil hat conspiracies about a government they largely control, & rhetoric
about their non-Republican citizens that describe people as evil, as dangerous, as existential threats to their well-being, to their ability to continue to live their lives undisturbed. Its a highly explosive, potent mix that is going to blow up at some point. Truth be told, it
already has, but we got lucky both times and the plots failed. I'll close by saying, there are certainly environment on the Left where the rhetoric is equally tin foil hat and it is equally problematic for civil society. But it is not mainstream, and that is a crucial difference.
