welcome back to the race as the 2024 campaign accelerates America seem to be divided on a host of issues ranging from inflation and immigration to Reproductive Rights but a new apnc poll finds we may not be as divided as you think so according to that poll nine out of 10 Americans say the right to vote freedom of speech and equal protection under the law are extremely or very important the vast majority of Americans also agree on the importance of the right to privacy freedom of religion and fre
edom to to assemble peacefully but the poll discovered some key differences as well only three out of 10 Americans believe the nation's democracy is functioning well while 14% say the US isn't even a democracy at all so here now to talk about this poll is scrips news political analyst Steve Schmidt Steve is also founder of the warning newsletter and podcast Steve thank you for joining us tonight I want to start with um what Americans agree on so if the vast Amica vast majority of Americans value
the same why is part politics still so partisan why is there such a big disconnect well the simple answer to that question is is that partisans hyper partisans look at the other side as the threat to those rights so your Republican partisan looks at your Democratic partisan and says that person is a threat to my way of life and vice versa though both sides claim fidelity to the same way of life which is based on these rights I think it's important to mention regardless of what the answer is 90%
70% it really doesn't matter it doesn't matter if it's 3% those rights are the Cornerstone of our way of life and they don't go away if they become unpopular that's why have a Bill of Rights so they can never be taken away the freedom of speech of conscience of religion these things are in violent and all of them depend on an election process where both parties and both politicians in it are prepared to lose an election by accepting the will of The Sovereign which is the people and so that is t
he difference in americ politics right now between the two parties and the leadership the American people agree on these things but as a practical effect inside of American politics inside two of the parties one of those parties has opted out of the agreement the compact that keeps it all Cousy working which is the idea that we assign power temporarily through an election well three out of 10 people in this um poll said democracy is working well that's a pretty low number so how would you define
a well-functioning democracy well I was astounded that 30% would say that it's that it's working well I I didn't as John McCain used to say he he wouldn't have expected that paid staffers and family members were so numerous in the country uh our democracy is clearly broken Winston Churchill observed once that it's the worst form of government except for all of its Alternatives so in the end the American people if they're dissatisfied with the state of the Democracy have to change the direction
of the country politically but but in the end uh when we look out across the depth and breadth of the country we should be encouraged what these say because these are the foundations not just of American government but the way of life in a nation that's nearing 250 years old that spans a continent with 330 million people living on it and so these rights uh though we are disputing very very harshly we are United at the core of what it is we're supposed to believe in and that's a start well you yo
u said fixing your democracy means you know uh fixing it requires choosing the right leaders to fix it but right now I mean h h how do you see that working how do you see us breaking through the partisan divide to try to elect leaders that aren't ranging and pushing F farther and further to the extremes on the right and the left well look there there have been times in in America history of hyperarticulation of candidates we have a closely divided Congress we have a diss satisfied public we have
an overwhelming percentage of the country it says we don't want either one of the candidates we have a third party candidate in the race and what all of this points to is that the American people are are braying at a system that is fraying and and we'll see over the course of the election how the system responds to that but but democracy is responsive to the will of the people and so so we're in a moment right now of dissatisfaction where these two political parties these candidates are going t
o have to find a way to talk honestly and directly to people who are dissatisfied and try to recruit them to their cause to their side in an election incredibly that once again is going to be decided across a dozen or so counties in three or four states by 10,234 ,000 votes at a maximum and and so the the the razor thin era of American presidential politics is going to continue for at least another four years scrips news plal analyst Steve Schmidt breaking it down for us thank you very much for
your perspective tonight we appreciate it
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