Commentary March 13, 2022

We Live in a Nation of Strangers. That Needs to Change

Diversity is not the source of our current problems. We have become troublingly incurious about our neighbors

Daniel A. Cox

A black and white photo of a man and woman sitting back-to-back in a train car.

Deseret News

After the 2016 election, there was a palpable feeling of bewilderment among Democrats who wondered how so many of their fellow citizens could have voted for Donald Trump. For many on the left, it was the disorienting sense of living in a country that they no longer recognized. But while this may have been a new feeling for liberals, many conservatives have long thought they were a “stranger in their own country.”

The United States is a nation with an incredible amount of racial, political, religious and geographical diversity. It’s no wonder that we don’t often agree with each other. But diversity is not the source of our current problems. Instead, it’s that we have become deeply incurious about each other, no longer interested in getting to know even the people who live next door. We live in a nation of strangers. Even when we do talk to our neighbors we’re increasingly doing it online, using platforms like Nextdoor or Facebook.

Continue reading on Deseret News

Survey Reports

gender divide banner

Daniel A. Cox, Kelsey Eyre Hammond
September 24, 2024

The Politics of Progress and Privilege: How America’s Gender Gap Is Reshaping the 2024 Election

Americans are increasingly divided on gendered issues. A new report by the Survey Center on American Life provides context for how these divisions might impact the results of the 2024 Presidential election.

Daniel A. Cox, Sam Pressler
August 22, 2024

Disconnected: The Growing Class Divide in American Civic Life

Disconnected: Places and Spaces presents new survey findings that suggest Americans are less connected than ever before.

Daniel A. Cox, Kyle Gray, Kelsey Eyre Hammond
May 28, 2024

An Unsettled Electorate: How Uncertainty and Apathy Are Shaping the 2024 Election

A survey of more than 6,500 US adults focused on the 2024 presidential election reveals a pessimistic and unsettled American electorate fractured by education, ideology, class, and gender.

Generation Z and the Transformation of American Adolescence Cover Image

Daniel A. Cox, Kelsey Eyre Hammond, Kyle Gray
November 9, 2023

Generation Z and the Transformation of American Adolescence: How Gen Z’s Formative Experiences Shape Its Politics, Priorities, and Future

This report explores the foundational differences between American generations through their formative adolescent experiences.