Lexington - The paradox of the pandemic | United States | The Economist - 0 views
www.economist.com/...the-paradox-of-the-pandemic
pandemic paradox partisan polarization parties politics crisis policy
![](/images/link.gif)
-
The best explanation for the recent implacability of American partisanship is that many pre-existing, not necessarily partisan, differences, concerning race, region, expertise and so forth, have become starkly aligned with partisan identity. Covid-19, a disease that disproportionately hurts urban-dwelling non-whites and demands rigorously science-based action has worked with the grain of that alignment
-
A survey by More in Common, a group that studies polarisation, finds that almost half say America is more united than it was before the pandemic. The portion that believes it is “very divided” has dropped from 62% to 22%. Over 90% of Americans believe “we’re all in it together”, compared with 63% before the virus hit.
-
The main explanation for this apparent contradiction is that politics is local. In America’s system, state and local governments are the front line against the pandemic.
- ...2 more annotations...
-
This suggests America is fundamentally the same country of concerned, good-hearted citizens it ever was. Even when its national politics is seized by demagogues, responsibility and accountability matter in everyday governance.
-
The unhappier flip-side is that this divergence helps explain why Americans can bear to put up with, and thereby sustain, such dreadful national politics. It plays a much smaller role in their lives than the apparent momentousness of its life-and-death issues might suggest. In the current catastrophe