Uncommon Knowledge: Exhaustion, not rage, is America’s political currency

It’s tempting to see rage everywhere—from the Oval Office, to online communities, even to families divided over political beliefs. But anger isn’t actually how most Americans feel about politics. Exhaustion is. In a substantial Pew survey in 2023, 65 percent said they “always or often feel exhausted” when thinking about politics, compared with 55 percent who said “angry.” In December 2024, an AP-NORC poll found nearly two-thirds have cut down on political and government news because of “information overload” and fatigue. And the research organization More in Common has described an “Exhausted Majority” comprising roughly two-thirds of the country, whom it described as “fed up with the polarization, often forgotten in public discourse, flexible in their views.”