Survey: Yes, American Is Going to HellIf you think America is going to hell in a handbasket, you are wrong. It's going to hell in a very large rolling bag. Or maybe a steamer trunk. A new survey on uncivil behavior in America, released exclusively to Politico, indicates that nearly every American has been messed over by someone else, and most of us are messing back: Some 86 percent of Americans say they have been victims of incivility, most commonly while driving (72 percent) or while shopping (65 percent). About six in 10 Americans admit they themselves have been rude. The survey, taken of 1,000 Americans in May, was conducted by Weber Shandwick and Powell Tate in partnership with KRC Research. The survey gives no definition of what uncivil behavior is. My definition is that if you cut me off in traffic, that's incivility. If I give you the finger for doing it, that's justice. A vast majority of Americans (91 percent) say that globally "incivility has negative consequences for America ... is perceived to be harming America's future, hurting its reputation on the world stage and preventing it from moving forward." On the other hand, you mess around with us, and we'll send a drone to take you out. Some 85 percent of Americans think politics is becoming increasingly uncivil, and 74 percent think incivility in the 2012 presidential race will worsen. Some 35 percent blame the media for this, and 27 percent blame political party leaders. In last week's Republican debate, the candidates were very civil to each other, to the dismay of the media. But that may have been smart: A whopping 90 percent of Americans surveyed say "the way the candidate treats and deals with people he or she disagrees with" is of high importance to how they will cast their votes, and 88 percent say "the candidate's tone or level of civility" is of high importance. Only 55 percent of those surveyed say a candidate's political party is of high importance. More than four in 10 Americans have experienced incivility in the workplace, with 65 percent blaming their bosses for it, and 59 percent blaming fellow employees. Younger employees were blamed by 34 percent, and access to the Internet by 25 percent (Is Angry Birds making people angrier?). Older employees did best, blamed for incivility by only 6 percent.
"One of the most critical and concerning findings is that incivility is making us tune out, making us less likely to vote or serve in government or engage with others," the extremely civil Pam Jenkins, president of Powell Tate, told me. "That is not good for us as a country." Perhaps the most fascinating part of the survey was that in which people were asked to assign a degree of incivility to 25 American institutions. Here's the list from least civil to most civil. Political campaigns: 80 percent Pop culture: 75 percent Media: 74 percent Government: 73 percent Music industry: 71 percent American public: 70 percent Professional sports: 68 percent Schools: 63 percent Republicans in Congress: 60 percent Supporters of the tea party: 60 percent YouTube: 58 percent Democrats in Congress: 56 percent Blogs: 55 percent Fox News: 51 percent Social networks: 49 percent American business: 48 percent Twitter: 38 percent MSNBC: 37 percent CNN: 32 percent The New York Times: 29 percent President Obama: 28 percent Workplace: 28 percent Oprah: 17 percent Friends and family: 13 percent Conversation at dinner table: 7 percent Dinner table conversation is the most civil institution in America? At whose house? Dr. Phil's? (This result may be due to a statistical anomaly that I refer to as "lying to the pollster.") The problem with the survey results is readily apparent: If we decided to eliminate those six aspects of society that rank in the 70th percentile of incivility or higher, we would have to eliminate the "American public." This could prove inconvenient. The survey quotes Johns Hopkins Professor Pier M. Forni, co-founder of the Civility Project, as saying what is needed to create civility in America are the three R's: respect, restraint and responsibility. The difficulty is finding any. While in 2010, some 56 percent of Americans said they had decided not to shop from a company where they were treated uncivilly, by 2011 the figure had risen to 69 percent. "Sooner or later, I hope we'll reach a tipping point when people will demand more civil discourse," says Jack Leslie, chairman of Weber Shandwick. One last finding: "More than half of Americans say they are 'tuning out' news coverage/reporting (55 percent) and opinion pieces/editorials (52 percent) because of what they consider as uncivil commentary." Morons. To find out more about Roger Simon, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com. COPYRIGHT 2011 CREATORS.COM
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