Who’s to Blame For Our Toxic Polarization? (Or is “Blame” the Wrong Word?)

We sent out a survey with the heading “How do you assign blame for our divides?” and asked: 

When it comes to America’s toxic divides, do you think that’s largely a problem caused by one political group (either Democrats or Republicans)? Or do you think both political groups contribute significantly to the problem?

1. Democrats and Republicans contribute in significant ways (even as one group may contribute more)
2. Almost entirely fault of Democrats
3. Almost entirely fault of Republicans
4. Not sure, or don’t want to answer

We were curious how many of you largely saw one political group as responsible for our toxic divides (which, to be clear, isn’t necessarily a bad thing; but more on that in a bit). We wanted to improve our understanding of your views to help create better, more illuminating content. 

Blame, shame, and oversimplifying

First, let’s address criticisms of this survey:

• Some people told us that talking about blame was counterproductive. As Debilyn Molineaux put it: “Blame is one of the tools used by conflict profiteers. My initial thought was your survey could actually cause a deepening of sentiment that there is someone or some group to blame.” Another community member made this excellent point: “I blame no one. That attitude keeps us from sorting out how and why we think.”
• Some people said that we seemed to be simplifying the problem of toxic polarization into merely a Democrat vs. Republican problem. 

We see why people had those impressions, and here are some thoughts in response: 

• We agree blame is generally not helpful; the “blame game” often gets in the way of conflict resolution. But we did want to examine how many people assigned responsibility for our toxic divides to a specific political group compared to how many people did not do that. In other words: we weren’t saying that blame is good, but we were curious about how many people saw things in those terms. 
• We know toxic polarization is a complex problem that transcends political parties (for example, there’s the media, our system of government, assorted systemic incentives, and much more). And we also know that our political spectrum is much more complex than Republican vs. Democrat. But for this question, someone could select “both political parties contribute in significant ways” while seeing toxic polarization as a complex phenomenon with many factors.

For both of these points, we do see how our overall framing might have come across as binary and simplistic. So thanks for your feedback and helping us improve. We honestly often struggle with crafting engaging but succinct messages that are also not too simplistic. This was a case where we could’ve erred more on the side of using careful language.

Results 

About 2,700 people responded to this survey. Here are the results: 

• About 65% said they saw significant contributions from both political parties (even though they may also think one party contributes more). 
• About 32% said they saw our toxic divides as “almost entirely the fault” of either Republicans or Democrats.
• Only about 3% picked the “Not sure, or don’t want to answer” option.

First, we want to be clear: We’re not saying it’s bad to see our divides as “almost entirely the fault” of one group or the other. We’re not passing judgment on that. The nature of conflict is that many people will think that — and one can be a valuable member of the depolarization movement while thinking that. 

But it’s also true that conflict can make it hard to see how we ourselves and our political group contribute to the conflict. The truth is that many of us, across the political spectrum, contribute to the toxicity of our political divides. And if we want to move the needle on this problem, more of us need to be curious about how we can push against divisive approaches among our political peers. We don’t have much influence over our political opponents — they distrust us — but we can influence our political peers. 

If you’re wondering, “But how does my political group contribute significantly?” We’d recommend checking out our recent piece on our distorted views of each other. Many of us contribute to our divides with our overly pessimistic views of each other. These overly pessimistic views lead to us speaking and acting in insulting, divisive ways (sometimes without realizing it).

Again, we want to emphasize that even if you think “the other side is much worse,” you can still be a valuable member of this movement. And that’s because toxic polarization is largely a problem of how we engage with each other — and we can engage with each other in healthier, less toxic ways while holding various beliefs about issues and our political opponents. 

Here are some more thoughts on how people in the two political groups contribute: 

• Republican-side contributions
• Democrat-side contributions

Want to learn more about toxic polarization and join the conversation? Sign up for our weekly newsletter at www.startswith.us/join.