Americans are increasingly detached from politics. Here’s how to inspire them.

This 4th of July, it's time to start building a new political vision.

A version of this article was originally published in the newsletter for More in Common, a nonprofit organization seeking to understand and address social division, where I am a Senior Advisor.

More in Common released its Hidden Tribes report in 2018, the word we used to describe the feeling of many Americans was “exhausted.” We coined the term “Exhausted Majority” to describe the group of Americans who are frustrated with division and more flexible in their views.

Now, another word might be “indifferent.”  

By all accounts, this should be a riveting (if also troubling) time in politics. The Supreme Court recently passed a decision that radically expands Presidential power. Joe Biden had a cringeworthy performance at last week’s debate. And the presidential election is four months away.

And yet study after study shows that a surprisingly high number of Americans’ reactions to the news is best captured by a single word: “meh.”

An investigation by Pew, for example, found that the number of Americans who follow the news frequently decreased from 51 percent in 2016 to 38 percent in 2022. Even more recently, a PBS poll showed that a majority of Americans—55 percent—said they were not following Trump’s hush money trial much or at all, and few changed their views following the conviction. And for all the devastation that has happened in the Middle East over the past nine months, only 22 percent of Americans say they are following it very or extremely closely.  

As one participant in a Pew research survey said, “You just get tired of the arguing and bickering back and forth...So, I’m still gonna vote, but I don’t see myself getting more engaged in the process.” 

We’ve gone from frustrated, to exhausted, to utterly indifferent.  

What explains this growing apathy? 

The answer, according to some experts, is straightforward: people are burnt out. We have the same two men running for office that we did four years ago. Both are at or approaching eighty. For all the scandals surrounding Donald Trump, it has been difficult to convince the public that these differ in meaningful ways from all the others we’ve been exposed to over the years. Meanwhile, Biden’s rallying cry (when he’s able to shout loud enough) appears to be, “more of the same!” Hardly a vision to rush into battle for.  

American politics is beginning to feel like a rerun of a bad television show where we all know the plot, the characters, and even the credits.  

What we need is a new, positive political vision that can inspire people, spur them to action, and give them hope for the future.

By giving people a better sense of this current moment in history and their place in it, this “narrative moonshot” might alleviate Americans’ feelings of political detachment.  

What might such a vision look like? Building on More in Common’s research, here are four principles that can help guide such a project:  

• Center the experiences of the Exhausted Majority. The controversial issues playing out on social media do not reflect most Americans’ main concerns. By listening to these Americans and centering their values and beliefs, we may be able to build a more effective narrative that resonates with their deepest convictions.   

• Build on psychological research. A growing body of evidence in the social sciences, along with More in Common’s own research, highlights the importance of “core beliefs” for understanding political attitudes and behavior. Any new political narrative should be based on an understanding of human psychology.  

• Highlight the power of personal agency. Research shows how much people’s outcomes in life are due to circumstances that are outside of their control. At the same time, work by More in Common suggests that a majority of Americans, across race, gender, and immigration status, maintain an abiding faith in people’s ability to transcend adverse circumstances. This suggests that new narratives should build on (rather than downplay) the power of human agency.  

• Make it positive. As noted above, in today’s toxic landscape, so much rhetoric is focused on the negative. While this language is driving short-term clicks and shares on social media, it is also exhausting and contributes to Americans’ frustration and pessimism. Other research suggests negative campaign language is generally ineffective. A more successful narrative would spark hope rather than fear, and focus on what brings us together rather than on what pulls us apart.  

One thing is clear: we need a new kind of politics. One that captures people’s imagination; one that fosters a sense of collective purpose and shared destiny; one that focuses on the future rather than fixating on the past.

This is our best hope of getting out of our current political rut.