“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.” 

“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.” 

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

National Citizens Panel finds that contempt continues to pervade political speech and damage national unity.