Dignity Wins at the VP Debate
Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Photo
Panel Notes the Impact of Dignity in the Candidates’ Exchanges
UNITE, the non-profit founded by Tim Shriver to ease the country’s political divisions, today released its Dignity Index scores on this week’s Vice Presidential debate between J.D. Vance and Tim Walz.
UNITE’s 80-member bipartisan national citizens panel – selected to represent the rich political diversity of the United States – issued high dignity scores for both candidates, registered very high levels of bipartisan agreement on the scores, and expressed bipartisan support for the dignified tone of the debate.
“We have long said that contempt makes it hard to talk to each other – and if you can’t talk to each other, you can’t solve problems together,” said Shriver, a co-creator of the Dignity Index. “The image of the two candidates lingering on the stage after the debate, introducing their wives to each other and enjoying a short conversation, teaches us a lot about the power of dignity in shaping relationships.”
“[This] shows what grown ups should act like,” said one panelist from the center, echoed by another moderate who said “This is how leaders should be.” “Can this become a new normal?” asked a third.
One statement from Senator Vance on gun violence found a positive reaction that was typical for the scores. Ninety-five percent of the panelists agreed it was on the dignity side of the scale. One strong conservative noted: “The key sign of a substantive debate is when most of the answers offer an assessment or a critique of the problem and/or a solution to the problem. This particular debate had much more substance to it then the Trump/Harris debate, and that is a good thing. This quote is a clear example of Vance stating his opinion of the problem without any expression of contempt. That is the first step to finding common ground.”
A strong liberal said: “Senator Vance expressed his opinion in an open manner with no expression of contempt. He didn’t try to point fingers rather he acknowledged the problem and left an opening for discussion on the topic in the future.”
In Governor Walz’ statement on gun violence, 95 percent of the panelist scored it on the dignity side. A strong conservative said: “appears to be the epitome of cooperation with this passage.” A moderate wrote: “Can this become the new normal?” Another voice in the center wrote: “it’s extremely refreshing to see two politicians on the opposite sides of the aisle actually converse with each other in a polite manner. If only the presidential candidates could behave as these two did.”
Tom Rosshirt, co-creator of the Index, noted the striking contrast between the Vice Presidential debate and what the public has become used to. “When we talk about a dignity strategy, people often ask us for examples,” said Rosshirt. “They want to know what dignity looks like in political debate because they haven’t seen it. Now we just saw it, and we hope this means we will see more.”
THE LATEST SCORES
Panelists score by matching language from the speech passage with descriptions in the Dignity Index scoring guide, which is available here.
Tim Walz, speaking about Donald Trump:
"Look, our allies understand that Donald Trump is fickle. He will go to whoever has the most flattery or where it makes sense to him."
88% of panelists agree that this was contempt
The most frequently chosen score was a FOUR
The reasons given the most were “will distort or rename an opponent’s position to make it sound unappealing” and “dismisses the other side as not really worth talking to.”
87% of panelists scored within -1 of the score of FOUR
The Conservative average score was 3.619, and the Liberal average score was 3.917
JD Vance, speaking about Kamala Harris:
"We're a country of doers. We're a country of explorers, but we increasingly have a federal administration that makes it harder to develop our resources, makes it harder to build things, and wants to throw people in jail for not doing everything, exactly as Kamala Harris says they have to do."
83% of panelists agree that this was contempt
The most frequently chosen score was a FOUR
The reasons given the most were “will distort or rename an opponent’s position to make it sound unappealing” and “We’re better than those people. They don’t really belong. They don’t really share our values.”
72% of panelists scored within -1 of the score of FOUR
The Conservative average score was 3.762, and the Liberal average score was 3.625
JD Vance’s stance on gun violence:
"We have way higher rates of depression, way higher rates of anxiety. We, unfortunately, have a mental health crisis in this country that I really do think that we need to get to the root causes of because I don't think it's the whole reason why we have such a bad gun violence problem. But I do think it's a big piece of it."
95% of panelists agree that this was dignity
The most frequently chosen score was a FIVE
The reasons given the most were “speaks openly, explaining their views, but never with contempt” and “I share my views with no contempt, so they’re easier for others to hear”
86% of panelists scored within -1 the score of FIVE
The Conservative average score was 5.190, and the Liberal average score was 5.333
Tim Walz talking about gun violence:
"Where the most firearm deaths happen in Minnesota are rural suicides. And we have an epidemic of children getting guns and shooting themselves... But I want to be very careful. This idea of stigmatizing mental health, just because you have a mental health issue doesn't mean you're violent. And I think what we end up doing is we start looking for a scapegoat. Sometimes it just is the guns. It's just the guns."
83% of panelists agreed that this was dignity
The most frequently chosen score was a FIVE
The reasons given the most were “speaks openly, explaining their views, but never with contempt” and “I share my views with no contempt, so they’re easier for others to hear”
70% of panelists scored within +1 of the score of FIVE
The Conservative average score was 4.762, and the Liberal average score was 5.125
Tim Walz’s closing remark on gun control:
"I think this is a healthy conversation. I think there's a capacity to find solutions on this that work, protect Second Amendment, protect our children. That's our priority."
99% of panelists agree this was dignity
The most frequently chosen score was a SIX
The reasons given the most were “We talk to the other side, searching for the values and interests we share, and using them as a basis for cooperation.” and “We don’t let our disagreements keep us from cooperating on the things we agree on.”
89% of panelists scored within +1 or -1 the score of SIX
The Conservative average score was 6.095, and the Liberal average score was 5.875
An exchange between JD Vance and Tim Walz:
Tim Walz: "Well, I've enjoyed tonight's debate, and I think there was a lot of commonality here. And I'm sympathetic to misspeaking on things. And I think I might have with the Senator, but…"
JD Vance: "Me too, man."
97% of panelists agree this was dignity
The most frequently chosen score was a SEVEN
The reasons most given were “has a great deal of humility, especially in their ability to be self-critical, admit mistakes, and even consider how they might be contributing to the problem.” and “can offer genuine apologies and forgiveness even after painful conflicts.”
82% of panelists scored within +1 or -1 the score of a SEVEN
The Conservative average score was 6.429, and the Liberal average score was 6.333
JD Vance’s closing statement:
“We are going to shake hands after this debate and after this election. And of course, I hope that we win and I think we're going to win but if Tim Walz is the next vice president, he'll have my prayers, he'll have my best wishes and he'll have my help, whenever he wants it."
100% of panelists agree this was dignity
The most frequently chosen score was a SIX
The reason most given was “We don’t let our disagreements keep us from cooperating on the things we agree on.” and “finds it deeply satisfying to cooperate with the other side.”
86% of panelists scored it within +1 or -1 of a SIX
The Conservative average score was 6.286, and the Liberal average score was 6.208
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