Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff
“A new poll finds 45% of American voters identify as independents, not aligned with either party that dominates politics. That is the highest rate on record for the United States. Voters in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in Europe display a similar neutrality or disinterest. Political polarization, it appears, is contributing to citizens’ party disaffection and thus, potentially, to civic disengagement. The danger of a public that has ‘checked out’ of political interchange, observed American Enterprise Institute senior fellow Samuel Abrams, is that ‘citizens gradually learn the wrong lesson: that withdrawal is safer than participation.’ At the same time, cities around the world (from Mexico City to Montreal, from Boston to Bengaluru, India) are managing to cultivate a feeling of local belonging that fosters civic involvement and trust.” (01/23/25)