Nonprofit that works to foster understanding says people have more in common than we think

By: Susan Geier, GSNC

Americans are not as far apart on issues as we think we are. 

During what seems like high political polarization, there is research that shows what we believe isn’t reality. 

It’s called the “perception gap,” said Kate Carney, chief of staff at More in Common USA, a branch of an international nonprofit research organization that works in countries around the world to address the underlying drivers of fracturing and polarization and to build more united communities. 

The perception gap is the distorted understanding we can have of each other — the gap between our perceptions and reality, said Carney.

In an interview, Carney discussed More in Common’s latest research, which has found that Democrats and Republicans imagine that almost twice as many people on the other side hold more extreme views than they really do. It challenges our notions of a nation divided. Americans do indeed hold different values and disagree on key issues, but we underestimate how much more we have in common.

Q. What is the perception gap study?

Kate Carney: We asked thousands of Republicans and Democrats what they think about certain issues and what they think the “other side” believes. What we find is that we don’t do a great job of predicting what the other side thinks. 

We feel strongly against the other side, especially along our political lines of difference, but we found, when asked about specific views on policies and values, there's a lot more common ground than we think. But it's hard to see that common ground or understand it exists when you have this perception of who the other side is. 

Q. The Perception Gap study found the most partisan, politically active Americans (called the wings) have deeply distorted perceptions of the other side. Why is that? 

Kate Carney: What we found were the two wings — the progressive activists and the devoted conservatives — had the opposite world views. These two groups were the most active on social media and politically had the strongest opinions — negative opinions — of one another. 

Q. And it’s those voices with the strongest political identity that tend to dominate and shape our perception;  even if that isn’t the view of the majority (the so-called hidden tribes), correct?  

Kate Carney: It’s interesting how we really elevate, as a society, our political identity. We tend to put everything into left and right, red or blue, but political identity is often like the fourth or fifth most important identity of the people that we survey. The most important parts of our identity are family role, gender, faith identity, even being an American, and then our political identity. 

For example, it’s a different lens to view Mary as a mother on a school policy issue versus Mary as a Republican on a school issue. Why people believe what they believe is much more rooted in their experiences, and there isn't space for us to capture that nuance because we have these preconceived notions based off where you fall in the political spectrum.

Q. You mentioned hidden tribes. What are those and how do they come into play in the perception gap? 

Kate Carney: There are seven tribes. We have progressive activists who are the strongest in their progressive views — very politically active, very engaged. And then you have traditional liberals who are traditional moderate Democrats. You have passive liberals, people who are not really engaged politically. 

You have 26 percent — the largest tribe — is the politically disengaged. The people here are not even part of our political conversations, and they tend to be the most distrustful of our systems and institutions. There is also a misperception there is this mushy middle centrist when there’s a huge percentage of the people who are just not engaged at all. 

Then you have your moderates, which are your kind of classic center-right moderate folks. There are traditional conservatives whose conservative identity as Republican is important to them, and then you have your devoted conservatives. 

What we found in our perception gap research is the people on the wings had the widest perception gaps, and they tended to be also the most engaged. Same with people who are most active on social media. Another group with a wide perception gap is highly educated Democrats. The reasoning is that as you become more highly educated, and especially if you are in more left-leaning circles, that your actual social and friendship diversity is not as wide as if you were Republican. 

Q. Why is that? 

Kate Carney: It’s easier to be in your own silo. And it's not just social media. You have so many ways to get content and information that can shape your perspective and narrative, such as podcasts and YouTube. It can be these spaces where people can create their own reality based off the information. What I consume today could be very different from what you consume today.

Q. Why is understanding the perception gap important?

Kate Carney: We are in a place where we feel really divided. We have strong feelings towards each other, especially along party lines. And it's not always based on a true understanding of who one another is. By being able to develop a better, truer understanding of one another reduces our feelings of threat towards one another. If we feel threatened by the other side, then we ourselves are more likely to react to that threat and probably not in positive ways. 

Closing perception gaps helps us understand where our commonalities are and help people tackle the tough challenges we face in our country. But if we're here shouting at each other, or pointing fingers, that is the wrong conversation to have. Throwing a bunch of statistics at people doesn’t work to change their perceptions. 

Q. You have talked about the Disagree Better initiative, an organization that works to change the political behavior of voters and elected officials, showing that the right kind of conflict often leads to better policy and can be more successful politically than negative campaigning. What else needs to happen to close the gaps?

Carney: There are a few things, such as how we can create more opportunities and space for people to really build connections with one another, especially at the local level. We are losing those spaces and opportunities where we have to engage with people who are different from us. 

The key is finding those spaces that we do have commonality and ask how we can build off that. How do we build trust in one another? How do we help people feel heard and understood? It’s innately human to want to feel a sense of belonging and feeling heard, and when that happens people aren’t guarded and defensive. It’s trying to truly understand why somebody believes what they believe. It doesn’t mean you have to agree, but understanding helps people feel heard. 

If you're a community leader, are there ways that you can facilitate people to build connections with one another locally?  We have a responsibility to engage for the health of our country. We have to check ourselves and ask, where am I getting my sources of information? What are the types of conversations I'm having? How am I engaging in this? 

Are people ready to look inward? We all have perception gaps, and it’s not an easy thing to let go of. No one likes to be wrong. It’s a mindset of being open and being curious.

The Know Your Vote, youth voter guide project was designed, reported and produced by student and young professional journalists from The Clock, The Concord Monitor, The Equinox, Granite State News Collaborative, Keene State College, The Laconia Daily Sun, The Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, Nashua Ink Link and The Presidency and the Press program at Franklin Pierce University. See the full guide at www.collaborativenh.org/know-your-vote.