Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed and Fail

by Ray Dalio

There is also an exceptional amount of polarization in the US right now, as reflected in the stats. Survey data about the sentiments of the voters paints a picture of polarization and intransigence. For example, in a 2019 Pew survey 55 percent of Republicans and 47 percent of Democrats viewed the other as more immoral than other Americans, and 61 percent of Republicans and 54 percent of Democrats said that those of the other party don’t share their values. When asked whether they had warm or cold feelings to those of the other party, 79 percent of Democrats and 83 percent of Republicans said they had “cold” or “very cold” feelings for members of the other party (of that, 57 percent of Democrats and 60 percent of Republicans selected “very cold”). Another study reported that 80 percent of Democrats think that the Republican Party has been taken over by racists and 82 percent of Republicans think that the Democratic Party has been taken over by socialists. A 2010 study showed that nearly half of Republican parents and a third of Democratic parents would be displeased if their child married someone from the other political party. That compares with about 5 percent for both parties in 1960. One recent survey showed that 15 percent of Republicans and 20 percent of Democrats thought the country would be better off if large numbers of the other side “just died.”