Tag: Polarization: Its Past Present And Future

By Leonora Zilkha Williamson  As the calendar turns toward the next election, I think often of a dinner I tried to organize five years ago with two childhood friends (we’re all nearing 50 and spent youthful summers on the beach). The effort failed because of politics. One friend, an ardent… Read More

Subscribe to our newsletter, On Unity, to keep up to date with the Project’s events, research and publications. Friends and fellow citizens, Summer break is coming to a close, but there’s still time to add our newest episode of Unity Talks:… Read More

Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy releases second quarterly Vanderbilt Unity Index data measuring Americans’ faith and trust in democracy   Americans’ general faith and trust in democracy has stabilized in the first half of 2022, remaining relatively flat through the second quarter, according to the… Read More

Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy releases second quarterly Vanderbilt Unity Index data measuring Americans’ faith and trust in democracy   Americans’ general faith and trust in democracy has stabilized in the first half of 2022, remaining relatively flat through the second quarter, according to the… Read More

Friends and fellow citizens,The popular, and often repeated, national narrative is that Americans are more politically divided than ever before. We witness harsh debates and dramatic polarization on social media and within our country’s governing bodies, but how do we know if these interactions are representative of public unity as… Read More

Read Dean John Geer and Mary Catherine Sullivan’s recent piece in the Washington Post about the Vanderbilt Unity Index. The new measure of national unity examines shifts over decades, and tells a better story than you might think. Read More

  Episode 1: Jonathan Martin and John Geer Episode 2: Yuval Levin and Bill Haslam Episode 3: Will Hurd and Bill Haslam Episode 4: Allida Black and Samar Ali Episode 5: Jon Meacham and Keel Hunt The Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy… Read More

A new index designed by researchers at Vanderbilt University shows a steady erosion of trust in American political institutions over the past 40 years, with it hitting its lowest point in 2017 after racial unrest in Charlottesville, Virginia.  Launched by the Vanderbilt Project on Unity and American Democracy, the… Read More