Cliff’s Take: Guns, Immigration and Race—Have We Come Full Circle?
There is a different energy in the world—and it is not just the official start to spring.
Eighty-nine million Americans have received at least one dose of the vaccine; with 209 million adults in this country, that works out to 43% of the total adult population. America is administering, on average, more than 2 million new vaccines per day. As I told Axios this week, America is indeed reemerging.
However, this week also shows us how America’s most intractable problems—racial animus, political tribalism, and nativism—still simmer beneath the surface. Our COVID world has changed everything but also nothing.
Below are what I thought were the most important polling data points of the week.
- Green shoots. Weekly jobless claims hit a pandemic low last week. Americans are bullish on their job prospects. Look at the data. The ship appears to be righting itself.
- America reemerging. We are going out into the world again. Revisiting friends, family, and restaurants. Falling COVID rates, rising inoculations give us courage, give us hope.
- Broken border. Immigration is still a trigger issue. Remember that it was the defining factor of the 2016 election season. While COVID might have temporarily distracted us, look at what the recent acute crisis on the border has done. Immigration has jumped in importance, especially so among Republicans.
- Partisan cueing. Gun violence is a perennial problem in the US—and one on which partisan views are increasingly unmoving. Yes, America writ large supports moderate gun control policies, but support among Republicans is much lower now than before. Why? The Republican base takes its cues from GOP leadership, which has made gun rights a signature plank in the party platform.
- "Othering" is part of our partisan, tribal world. We have seen it repeatedly over the last few years. But words have consequences. Look at the data! Attacking with “China virus” begets Asian animus and, tragically, a rise in violence and hate crimes.
This week is a reminder that we are a divided society. Public opinion fractures around the existential: gun violence, immigration, and race. These issues will haunt us into the future well beyond the virus.
Be safe; be sane.
For more information, please contact:
Clifford Young
President, U.S.
Public Affairs
+1 202 420-2016
[email protected]
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