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SOTU 2023: Speaking to the Exhausted Majority

January 25, 2023

Topic

Culture Wars

Democracy & Elections

Perception Gaps

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More in Common conducted a national survey the week following the November 2022 midterm elections. To better connect with the Exhausted Majority the data indicates that both the President’s speech and the GOP response should focus on articulating a positive vision for the country while acknowledging the anxieties and frustrations most feel towards our country’s politics.


Key Takeaways

  • Americans remain highly negative; hope and appetite for compromise have fallen since 2018.
    • The top 5 most common emotions towards the country today are frustrations (74%), disappointment (71%), exhaustion (61%), disgust (57%) and anger (53%). 
    • Americans feel slightly less negative towards the country today than in 2018, but they also feel less hopeful and excited about the future.
  • Americans are weary of a hostile antagonistic political climate. 
    • Most think that extremists on both sides of the political spectrum present a threat to America (65%). 
    • Most think the greatest threat to the nation is domestic (86%) rather than foreign. 
    • A majority (58%) feel that they do not have a voice in the political conversation. Independents especially think this (67%) 
  • Republicans and Democrats grossly overestimate the differences in policy priorities between parties.
    • Democrats perceive the top Republican issue to be election fraud, but just 19% of Republicans cite it as a top priority.
    • Republicans believe that Democrats are preoccupied with LGBTQ rights, but just 9% of Democrats listed it as a top priority.
    • Meanwhile, inflation is the top concern for both Republicans (63%) and Democrats (40%).

November 2018 Survey  

Polling Firm: YouGov  

Sample Size: n=2,100 US Adults (nationally representative)  

Fieldwork Dates: November 7-10, 2018 

Margin of Error: +/- 2.1 for US avg. 

November 2022 Survey  

Polling Firm: YouGov 

Sample Size: n=1,200 US Adults (nationally representative)  

Fieldwork Dates: November 15-22, 2022 

Margin of Error: +/- 3.0 for US avg. 

Frustration and disappointment

are the top two emotions Americans name when asked to describe their feelings towards the US.

58%

of Americans do not feel like they have a voice in our political conversation.

86%

of Americans think the greatest threat to the United States is coming from within.

Overview


More in Common conducted a national survey in the week following the November 2022 midterm elections to better understand how the President and the GOP-appointed spokesperson can speak to America’s Exhausted Majority. The data indicates that both the President’s speech and the GOP response should focus on articulating a positive vision for the country while acknowledging the anxieties and frustrations most feel towards our country’s politics.

Bar chart showing motivations for voting between partisans and Independents. The US average is 52% voting for a positive vision and 44% to prevent a negative vision. Democrats: 53% positive, 44% negative. Republicans: 65% positive, 33% negative. Independents: 38% positive, 56% negative. White: 52% positive, 45% negative. Black: 54% positive, 40% negative. Hispanic: 50% positive, 43% negative. Asian: 54% positive, 43% negative.

Americans believe a better future is possible, but they are deeply concerned about inflation, healthcare, immigration, crime and other issues. Those concerns are coupled with fatigue towards the extremism in politics, leaving Americans feeling frustrated, disappointed and exhausted.

Bar chart showing motivations for voting between partisans and Independents. The US average is 52% voting for a positive vision and 44% to prevent a negative vision. Democrats: 53% positive, 44% negative. Republicans: 65% positive, 33% negative. Independents: 38% positive, 56% negative. White: 52% positive, 45% negative. Black: 54% positive, 40% negative. Hispanic: 50% positive, 43% negative. Asian: 54% positive, 43% negative.

Many in the Exhausted Majority felt their vote in 2022 was merely defensive – about stopping a negative vision from advancing rather than about bringing forward something positive. They feel both parties do not listen enough to regular Americans and that too often the political conversation is about attacking the other side rather than affirming their own side’s goals, priorities and values.

It is a daunting communications challenge, but Americans are eager for a departure from the ‘us versus them’ narratives that dominate politics in the current era. There remains a deeply-rooted conviction that there is a better way forward. February 7 gives both parties the opportunity to show what that way is.

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