Over the last several years and even prior, political, social, and economic tensions within the United States have risen considerably. Indeed, since the 2016 presidential election in which the real estate, reality television and business mogul from New York City Donald Trump won a massive upset victory over Hillary Clinton occurred, things in the country in terms of politics have been turned upside down. The media has become vitriolic, and political divisions have widened considerably between the two major parties. It appears that Americans have become more divided today than at any other time since the nation fought a civil war nearly 160 years ago, and these tensions and the overall polarization of the country continues to widen and exacerbate. In most general election polls for the 2024 election, the incumbent president Joe Biden appears to be in a dead heat with the aforementioned former 45th President Donald Trump.
Trump currently faces four criminal indictments and has endured an onslaught of poor media coverage from most major outlets. Trump remains significantly unpopular and despite this he was able to clinch the GOP nomination for the 2024 contest several months ago. Trump remains a toxic and polarizing figure in politics, and many people greatly disapprove of him. The incumbent president, Biden, is not faring any better; he has a national approval rating of around 40%, and also remains highly disliked by many. The country appears irreparably divided.
In truth, most Americans have lost a considerable amount of trust in their government. The integrity of America’s institutions have been weakened over the last several years, especially when taking into consideration the fact that people have watched millions of illegal migrants receive benefits from their own government while they struggle economically to make ends meet. In a recent report, the FBI’s statistics based around the examination of private citizens were cut by half in 2023. This is unlikely to help Americans feel confident.
