Poll finds 71% of Americans believe country is on wrong track(nbcnews.com)
nbcnews.com
Poll finds 71% of Americans believe country is on wrong track
https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/first-read/poll-finds-71-americans-believe-country-wrong-track-rcna68138
39 comments
do these commentators know what the right track is? The reason why everyone feels that it's all going wrong is because the informational environment has descended into partisan alarmism, which each 'side' simply triggering its base in order to get clicks and views. US more or less invented the idea of physical fitness, it now needs to do the same with mental fitness, starting with the inputs
I’d be more interested in the percentage of Americans, broken down by party affiliation and other demographics, that can elucidate even a modestly tenable solution to get the country on the “right track.” So much sturm und drang invades even the simplest of our human relationships…especially between two people of differing parties who might, in isolation from their base emotions, otherwise get along famously.
I wish I had even the faintest whisper of a solution. So many people can’t even talk to each other about anything sincere before devolving into derisible rhetoric.
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By many objective measures we are doing well, we are living longer than ever, women and minorities have more opportunities than ever, the standard of living is higher than ever in history. Even poor people live better (and longer) than kings used to not that many generations ago.
There are many measures by which we can judge our positive success. Of course there a ton of problems, but it still seems that we only like talking about problems and not any of the positives.
There are many measures by which we can judge our positive success. Of course there a ton of problems, but it still seems that we only like talking about problems and not any of the positives.
This Steven Pinker stuff is absolute hogwash. There are more people living in extreme poverty today than existed 250 years ago. So what that as a percentage and when you are very careful with the definitions that they are a smaller proportion.
And what, I can get an extra 5 years in a nursing home where there's a decent chance I'll suffer physical and psychological abuse but will be forcefully kept alive in a stupor on a cocktail of drugs.
It's just unabashed justification for the interests of the top couple percent. They do in fact have it better right now by far than any other cohort in history.
And what, I can get an extra 5 years in a nursing home where there's a decent chance I'll suffer physical and psychological abuse but will be forcefully kept alive in a stupor on a cocktail of drugs.
It's just unabashed justification for the interests of the top couple percent. They do in fact have it better right now by far than any other cohort in history.
Would you figure that if the population increases by 10x that the number of people living in extreme poverty increases by 10x? That's what I would assume if the world was not getting any better or worse.
No I would assume that at the margin, increases in population are drastically skewed towards more poverty.
So if we we went from 8B to 80B I'd argue we'd go from 1B -> >50B in poverty. Maybe a lot worse than that.
This is obviously dependent on where you are born but especially true once you consider that the places left with high fertility have nearly perfect overlap with the places with high volumes of extreme poverty.
And this is only in the short term. Those people are generating plastic waste, consuming fuel, and many other things that are net negatives to the planet over time. So over the long term this problem just gets worse.
So if we we went from 8B to 80B I'd argue we'd go from 1B -> >50B in poverty. Maybe a lot worse than that.
This is obviously dependent on where you are born but especially true once you consider that the places left with high fertility have nearly perfect overlap with the places with high volumes of extreme poverty.
And this is only in the short term. Those people are generating plastic waste, consuming fuel, and many other things that are net negatives to the planet over time. So over the long term this problem just gets worse.
but isnt that the exact point.
you might expect poverty to go up by a factor of 50x when the population goes up by 10x, but what we see is the opposite, poverty has grown more slowly than the overall population.
you might expect poverty to go up by a factor of 50x when the population goes up by 10x, but what we see is the opposite, poverty has grown more slowly than the overall population.
> we are living longer than ever
I thought that had recently reversed.
I thought that had recently reversed.
Inequality is record high and growing, there's an ongoing political attack on LGBT people's (and especially trans people's) right to even exist, one of the US's two parties is straight-up fascist and has already attempted a coup, and not very much is being done about the growing climate disaster.
On many objective measures, we are doing well. On many others, things are getting dramatically worse, fast.
On many objective measures, we are doing well. On many others, things are getting dramatically worse, fast.
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I would happily trade many of the increases in standard of living to regain our freedom. It's not enough to have a good standard of living, if you must live in constant oppressive fear of the abject tyranny imposed upon us. And make no mistake, that's where we are in this country. It might be subjectively considered better than most others, but that's just a way of saying our shit stinks less.
Personally, I agree with you about freedoms. I value personal freedoms very highly and would be happy to trade comfort and safety for more of them. Obviously the majority of people, especially on this site, are not going to share that same value. Most people just value a comfy life and don't mind trading their (and others) individual freedoms for it.
>that's where we are in this country
Unfortunately it seems to be where everyone ends up in all developed societies. The US is an aberration because it is so young.
>that's where we are in this country
Unfortunately it seems to be where everyone ends up in all developed societies. The US is an aberration because it is so young.
Problem is that the country doesn't agree on why we're on the wrong track.
The brexit effect. "No" is a consolidation of divergent voices. The framing is problematic.
My biggest concern is half our citizens are seemingly departed from reality. I think our institutions are doing very, very well.
Yes, politics aside, electing another old man with bad ideas entering dementia is clearly the "wrong track" for the country to be on...
> politics aside ... with bad ideas
Isn't _bad_ in this case a political judgement; so how are we to put politics aside in assessing this claim?
> ...entering dementia
I have no opinion about the U.S. president, favourable or unfavourable, but are there objective data in the public domain indicating a diagnosis of dementia in his case, e.g. neurocognitive test results? Even a Folstein mini-mental status test? The diagnosis of dementia and age-related cognitive decline is thrown around casually but requires more rigorous evaluation that "seems 'off'."
Isn't _bad_ in this case a political judgement; so how are we to put politics aside in assessing this claim?
> ...entering dementia
I have no opinion about the U.S. president, favourable or unfavourable, but are there objective data in the public domain indicating a diagnosis of dementia in his case, e.g. neurocognitive test results? Even a Folstein mini-mental status test? The diagnosis of dementia and age-related cognitive decline is thrown around casually but requires more rigorous evaluation that "seems 'off'."
The headline is kind of useless, one of the graphs tells the story.
Half of one party thinks we’re doing “good”. All of the other party says we’re not.
Half of one party thinks we’re doing “good”. All of the other party says we’re not.
So half of one party is enough? Wonderful that the press gives that one party so much power to decide about the country's direction. I wonder if the press gives that party a lot more attention and importance, and why that's so?
I think it is more that a large part of one party is being told things have never been worse by a very loud megaphone. That they believe it is not that surprising, all told.
If there were objective measures that folks were basing any of this on, it would be one thing. But the news isn't that 71% of Americans believe things are bad. The story is a bit more that "the two parties in America are increasingly polarized on their view of how the country is doing."
If there were objective measures that folks were basing any of this on, it would be one thing. But the news isn't that 71% of Americans believe things are bad. The story is a bit more that "the two parties in America are increasingly polarized on their view of how the country is doing."
If one party has decided to answer "wrong track" simply because they're not in power, then it's not going to be a very informative question one way or the other.
It's useful to know that they're unhappy. But the metric is not the target; the goal is not to get them to say "right track". The goal is to figure out how to find a political system in which we can all work together.
I believe that those answering "wrong track" automatically have not done a good job of finding ways to work together. But that hasn't really changed in a long time, so the poll doesn't really mean much, either.
It's useful to know that they're unhappy. But the metric is not the target; the goal is not to get them to say "right track". The goal is to figure out how to find a political system in which we can all work together.
I believe that those answering "wrong track" automatically have not done a good job of finding ways to work together. But that hasn't really changed in a long time, so the poll doesn't really mean much, either.
I’m not sure I understand what you were saying.
My point was just that it wasn’t like 80% of one party and 60% of the other. It was WAY more lopsided.
My point was just that it wasn’t like 80% of one party and 60% of the other. It was WAY more lopsided.
I think things are fine. And you can too. Ask me anything.
I think the amazing thing is that 29% of American's think things are going well
Those 29% probably benefit from the status quo and/or don't pay attention to politics.
Hard agree. I canceled TV and blocked political sites in NextDNS and feel much better about the world since.
chatterhead(2)