Partisanship and Hostility Cast a Shadow over U.S. and Canadian Capitals

With each U.S. presidential candidate claiming that they can reduce the hostility in Washington, D.C., a new Harris Poll of 2,454 U.S. adults and 1,009 Canadian adults surveyed online by Harris Interactive^® between June 9 and 16, 2008 suggests that there is a very large amount of hostility that needs to be reduced. Specifically:

• Three in five Americans (60%) believe there is a great deal of hostility and political partisanship in Washington, D.C. with Republicans even more likely than Democrats to believe this (65% versus 59%);
• Just over two in five (44%) U.S. Echo Boomers (those aged 18-31) say there is a great deal of hostility compared to just over three quarters (78%) of U.S. Matures (those aged 63 and older);
• Nine in ten Americans (89%) say it is important that the next president reduce political partisanship and hostility in Washington, D.C. with 63 percent saying it is very important he do this. Interestingly, just over half of Republicans (56%) say it is very important compared to seven in ten (70%) Democrats; and,
• Just under half (45%) of Canadians say there is a great deal of political partisanship and hostility in Ottawa, with an additional 38 percent saying there is some;
• Three-quarters of Canadians (77%) say it is important that political partisanship and hostility in Ottawa be reduced with 42 percent saying it is very important.

As we head into the November elections in the U.S., there is some hope that one of the candidates may be able to do something about the partisanship and hostility.

• Just under half of U.S. adults (48%) believe it is likely that Barack Obama could reduce political partisanship and hostility and work with leaders of both parties, while 42 percent believe that John McCain is likely to do so;
• Two in five Americans (40%) believe Barack Obama is not likely to reduce the partisanship while 45 percent believe John McCain is not likely to do so;
• While each of their partisans is more likely to say that their candidate would be likely to reduce partisanship in D.C, Independents are split as just under half say both Obama (48%) and McCain (47%) would be likely to reduce partisanship;
• When asked which of the two major party candidates would be more successful at reducing hostility in Washington, just over one-third (37%) say Barack Obama would be more successful while one-quarter (25%) say John McCain would be. Telling is that one-quarter (23%) say neither would be successful and 15 percent are not sure;
• Among Republicans, over half (54%) say McCain would be more successful and one-quarter (27%) say neither candidate. Democrats are a bit more loyal as 62 percent believe Obama would be more successful and 17 percent say neither candidate;
• Echo Boomers are more likely to say Obama would be more successful than McCain (41% vs. 24%) while Matures lean towards McCain (33% vs. 29%).

Ultimately, it seems political partisanship is not exclusive to Washington D.C. and that the desire to reduce partisanship is not solely reserved for the American political scene. Claims that a top leader can come into office and work with individuals across the aisle have been made, well, probably since the days of George Washington. However, given the sour mood of both Americans and Canadians and the high numbers who believe there is too much hostility in their respective capitals suggests that this year, voters may be expecting more than just words. Whether they get it or not is a whole other story.

"How much political partisanship and hostility do you believe there is in Washington, D.C.?"

Base: All U.S. adults

Note: Percentages may not add to 100% due to rounding

"How much political partisanship and hostility do you believe there is in Ottawa?"

Base: All Canadian adults

Note: Percentages may not add to 100% due to rounding

"Claims have been made by or for the two major presidential candidates that they would reduce political partisanship and hostility in Washington and cooperate with congressional leaders of both parties. How important do you think it is that the next president can do this?"

Base: All U.S. adults

Note: Percentages may not add to 100% due to rounding

Note: * indicates less than 0.5%

"How important do you think it is that political partisanship and hostility be reduced in Ottawa?"

Base: All Canadian adults

Note: Percentages may not add to 100% due to rounding

"How likely do you think it is that each of the candidates could reduce political partisanship and hostility in Washington and work with leaders of both parties?"

Base: All U.S. adults

Note: Percentages may not add to 100% due to rounding

"How likely do you think it is that each of the candidates could reduce political partisanship and hostility in Washington and work with leaders of both parties?"

Base: All U.S. adults

"Which of the candidates do you think would be more successful in reducing hostility in Washington and cooling partisanship between Republicans and Democrats?"

Base: All U.S. adults

Note: Percentages may not add to 100% due to rounding

This Harris Poll^® was conducted online within the United States between June 9 and 16, 2008 among 2,454 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online.

All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate, including sampling error, coverage error, error associated with nonresponse, error associated with question wording and response options, and post-survey weighting and adjustments. Therefore, Harris Interactive avoids the words "margin of error" as they are misleading. All that can be calculated are different possible sampling errors with different probabilities for pure, unweighted, random samples with 100% response rates. These are only theoretical because no published polls come close to this ideal.

Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in Harris Interactive surveys. The data have been weighted to reflect the composition of the adult population. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to participate in the Harris Interactive panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.

Harris/Decima completed 1,009 online surveys among a random sample of Harris/Decima panel members. The study was conducted between June 9 and 16, 2008. This was a standard panel survey among a random sample of our Canadian panel members. In a fashion similar to a telephone study, email addresses from our panel were pulled at random, according to population and gender specifications, in order to make the study representative of the Canadian population by region and gender. When contacted to solicit participation, participants had no prior knowledge of the subject matter of the study. Harris/Decima controls access to the study through passwords to ensure that respondents can participate only one time. Subsequent to completion of the study, the data was weighted for region, age, and gender.

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