“Campaigns are long, challenging tests for all sides,” said Shriver, co-creator of the Index. “Everyone gets hit with attacks at some point, and everyone gets hurt. Positive expressions of goodwill can help the two sides begin to get past the pain of the campaign.”
Read More“The exhausted majority is becoming more exhausted,” said Shriver. “And it’s not just the people in the middle. The partisan wings are weary of contempt too, even when it comes from their own side. As we near the end of the campaign, Americans are starving for politicians who can speak to all voters with dignity and show the rest of the candidates how.”
Read More“The panelists’ scores again show a strong bipartisan agreement on dignity and contempt,” said Shriver. “The comments also show that the panelists can be passionately invested in an issue and still see through efforts to manipulate their emotions and divide them from other Americans.”
Read More“The scores this week show that panelists recognize the presence of dignity or contempt whether they agree with the speaker or not,” said Shriver, a co-creator of the Index. “And the comments support the view that a “dignity strategy” – searching for common interests and values, for example – can be much more appealing to voters than a contempt strategy, which demonizes opponents to energize supporters.”
Read More“The scores this week are the strongest contempt scores yet registered by the National Citizens Panel,” said Shriver. “And they also have the highest bipartisan agreement on the scores themselves. It shows that people can recognize contempt even when it comes from their own side, and they see the damage it does.”
Read More“When our political parties use the contempt strategy – demonizing their opponents to energize their supporters – it has an unintended effect,” said Shriver. “It turns away the voters they need to win. The candidate that can treat the other side with dignity has a better chance of winning the swing voters who may decide this election.”
Read MoreNational Citizens Panel finds that contempt continues to pervade political speech and damage national unity.
Read MoreBipartisan National Citizens Panel Issues Second Round of Scores with the Dignity Index. Panel scores and comments offer support for a Dignity Strategy
Read MoreIt would be hard to imagine a more unlikely series of political events than those of the last few days and weeks.
Read MoreWe couldn’t be more different.
If you ask us to list the things we disagree on, you’d be waiting a while.
Read MoreMillions of us will tune in on Thursday to watch the first of the two debates between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. And millions of us will rant at our screens and mock and condemn whichever candidate we oppose.
Read MoreLast week, I visited Elmwood Elementary School in Naperville, Illinois where students, teachers, parents, and administrators are doing amazing work with social and emotional learning strategies and programs.
Read MoreTim Shriver created The Dignity Index to shift how we interact with other people in all facets of life — from public and political conversations to daily engagements with those who are different from us or who hold views we don’t share.
Read MoreTimothy Shriver, CEO of Unite, spoke at the Gardner Policy Institute on Friday about the importance of respecting those with differing opinions and “disagreeing better.”
Read MoreIs talking politics in the workplace a bad idea? Is talking politics in general a bad idea? Plenty of Americans think so. For a long time, I did too.
Read MoreAn oral historian, a civic designer and the head of a nonprofit focused on bringing dignity back to politics are among the new class of fellows supported by Emerson Collective, the organization founded by Laurene Powell Jobs.
Read MoreWhen Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, agreed to film an advertisement for Utah Gov. Spencer Cox’s “Disagree Better” initiative, he knew just who he would ask.
Read MoreIf you’re tired of insult-slinging and debates that go in circles, you’re not alone.
Read MoreHow would you like to wake up in America and feel like it’s within your power to change the course of the country? Millions don’t—I know that. And I have to be honest that there are some days when I feel defeated by all the contempt. But not today!
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