Election years don’t always bring out the best in us.
Every two years — and especially every four — Americans are confronted with a red-blue divide that polarizes the candidates and the public.
What does it mean to be civil in the midst of polarization? What does progress look like when our leaders can’t even agree on the goal? Could the onslaught of campaign adds make us fear one another?
Working with This American Life, we asked how political divisions affect Americans’ relationships.
Based on what we heard, we created videos, radio stories and this interactive map. Together, they paint a picture of a social fabric under tremendous strain from the pressures of the political season.
4 months agoIf you think everyone who chooses not to own a gun does so for the same reasons, read these stories.
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4 months agoOur hunch is that people come to their ideas about guns less through the arguments of politicians and more through their own experience and the stories they hear from people they know. So we're asking for your stories.
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6 months agoBob Mac Murdo struggled with how he would vote on Minnesota's marriage amendment a full year before it appeared on the ballot. Once he settled on his vote, though, he says he never looked back.
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6 months agoA year ago, as she worked through how she'd vote on Election Day, Cheyenne Bishop felt as though she was being pulled between her beliefs (she's Mormon) and wanting a cousin, who identifies as bisexual, to be able to have the same rights as others who wish to marry.
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6 months agoAfter filling in the oval on her ballot, the regret started almost immediately. It stayed with her throughout the rest of Election Day and the week that followed -- well after her chosen candidate had lost Minnesota and the election.
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6 months agoReporters and producers at PBS NewsHour and news organizations around the country are constantly updating with highlights from Election Day and real time results when the polls close.
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6 months agoThis American Life took to the PIN to tell the stories of the emotional collisions among friends, families and communities that so many in this country are experiencing as the campaigns come to a close.
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6 months agoLiza Long recognizes her family doesn't fit this year's political stereotypes. She's a female, Catholic Romney supporter, while her son is a Mormon Obama supporter in Idaho. Her family's divided loyalties haven't divided the family, though. Political conversations at the dinner table are stimulating and respectful -- and sometimes even funny.
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7 months agoRev. Bonnie Wilcox, like so many clergy around the country, knows her congregation is politically divided. She walks a delicate line between offering pastoral guidance about "moral issues" and keeping her own political views to herself -- even on social media, where she is both minister and "friend."
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7 months agoListen to the stories of doubt, indecision, religion, science, memories, childhood and relationships that have informed the decision-making of a handful of Minnesotans as they prepare to vote Nov. 6.
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7 months agoMaren and Scott Christenson discussed tax policy on their first date. They didn't agree. They still don't -- on that issue and so many others. How do they make it work?
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7 months agoWhen Rachelle Ankney revealed herself to her conservative family as a "progressive, pro-LGBTQ, earth-loving anti-poverty community organizer," she was most worried about what her grandma would say. Turns out, Thelma VanDine had a story to share, too.
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7 months agoIs Facebook actually helping you express yourself in ways you wouldn't feel comfortable doing in person? Have you learned something important from a Twitter post? Or are you so sick of election noise that you turn to social networks as a form of refuge?
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7 months agoSeventy-five percent of Americans who use social networks say their friends post political statements online, according to a new survey. Eighteen percent of users have gotten so fed up they've blocked, unfriended or hidden some of those friends.
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7 months agoEvery two years -- and especially every four -- Americans are confronted with a red-blue divide that polarizes the candidates and the public. Explore stories of a social fabric under tremendous strain from the pressures of the political season.
Read more →
7 months agoIf you're on Facebook, you've likely also seen a fair amount of political chatter pop up on your wall or your news feed. For some people, that chatter has devolved into shifting relationships, broken friendships and strained bonds.
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