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Isn’t the United States meant to embody unity?
While our country’s name signifies the coalition of 50 states into one republic, it doesn’t automatically imply harmony among the people. However, shouldn’t it? Ideally, yes, but unfortunately, that isn’t the current reality.
Recent findings from an Issues & Insights (I&I)/TIPP poll reveal a growing divide, particularly noticeable on the political left.
Here’s what the data suggests:
When discussing unity through a political lens, the party in power seems to significantly influence perceptions of unity.
From this, I&I/TIPP creates a national Unity Index, which allows for comparisons over time.
What is it saying? Well, for one, Americans over the past five years or so have never been unified, even though there have been times the Unity Index has trended up.
Indeed, the Unity Index has never breached the neutral 50 level in the past half-decade. In August of last year, not too long after Donald Trump took office, it briefly touched 40.8, its all-time high. But since then, it has dropped back to April’s current reading of 32.1.
While that might seem dramatic, it’s in fact in keeping with the long-trend range for the index, as the chart below shows.
Here’s that chart:
— Ward Clark (@TheGreatLander) April 27, 2026
Turns out that if you talk about unity on a partisan basis, it seems to make a big difference as to who’s in charge:
As the chart below plainly shows, Democrats and Republicans essentially swapped positions on unity as they swapped presidential parties.
During the Biden years, Democrats bounced between a reading of just over 30 to as high as 55; today, they’re at 23.5, and haven’t been above 35 during Trump’s second term.
Republicans reached a giddy high 57.2 in August of last year; today they’re at 44.4.
For independents, it’s very much a “un-unified” feel for the entire half-decade of unity readings.
They’ve been above 30 only twice, once in July 2024, following Biden’s disastrous June 27 debate with Trump, and again in June 2025, as fears of a U.S.-China trade war subsided. But today, indie and third-party voters are at 26.4, just barely higher than the Dems.
And here’s that chart:
— Ward Clark (@TheGreatLander) April 27, 2026
So, the question becomes, “Why?” Well, in the light of current events, a more apt question about this increasing feeling of disunity might be “How could it not?”