The State of Polarization: 2022. Christa Case Bryant and Story Hinckley

Let's Find Common Ground

USC Dornsife Center for the Political Future

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5 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 6 January 2022

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

One year after the January 6th assault on the U.S. Capitol, we take a close look at America's political divide with two journalists who covered the calamitous events on that day and the responses to them. Our guests are Christa Case Bryant, Congressional correspondent for The Christian Science Monitor, and Story Hinckley, the Monitor's National political correspondent. We discuss whether America is more polarized than it was one year ago and the prospects for finding common ground in Congress and across the country. A Washington Post - University of Maryland opinion poll published on New Year's Day confirmed that Americans have totally different views of the 2020 election results. While large majorities of Democrats and independent voters say there was no evidence of widespread fraud, more than 60% of Republicans say there was. In their reporting throughout the year, both of our guests sought answers to complex questions about what caused people to storm the Capitol, and why Democrats and Republicans have opposing views about voter access and election laws. In this episode, we also examine the role of the media and individual reporters in covering the state of polarization in America today.

Transcript

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0:00.0	One year after the mayhem and riot at the U.S. Capitol, Americans are still deeply divided
0:07.1	over what happened that day and how much former President Trump was to blame.
0:12.0	We take a close look at America's political divide with two newspaper journalists
0:17.5	who covered the calamitous events on that day and the varied reactions since then.
0:23.4	This is Let's Find Common Ground. I'm Richard Davies.
0:32.2	And I'm Ashley Nontite. A new opinion poll published days ago by The Washington Post
0:37.3	confirms that we still have very different views of the 2020 election results.
0:42.6	While large majorities of Democrats and Independents say there was no evidence of widespread
0:47.2	fraud, more than six in 10 Republicans say there was. We also look at whether polarization
0:53.6	is a threat to democracy. Our guests are Christa Case Bryant,
0:58.1	congressional correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor and Story Hinkley,
1:02.7	the monitor's national political correspondent. Our first question is to Christa.
1:08.2	Is America more divided now than it was a year ago? I would say we're definitely at least
1:13.4	as polarized if not more so. And I think part of that is because of not only what happened
1:18.4	on January 6th, but also how all of that has been portrayed by different actors.
1:24.6	And if you look at all of the reasons that drove Trump supporters to come out that day
1:29.8	to his rally down near the White House and then to come up to the Capitol,
1:33.5	I mean, obviously a huge reason for that was distrust of the election results.
1:37.6	And then other reasons that brought people out that day, which are still persisting today
1:42.4	are distrust of democratic institutions, including Congress, including the people administer
1:46.8	elections at the local and state levels, distrust of the media,
1:50.9	a feeling like nobody is listening to us and the people who are listening to us keep getting
	...

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