As the midterm elections come ever closer, it can feel as if we’re stewing in a cauldron of tribalism, of our side vs. their side with no middle ground and little agreement on much of anything. That makes it a good time to take a breath and realize the consensus we’ve reached on some issues that were incredibly contentious not long ago. It gives us hope in the angry days ahead.
Same-sex marriage? Remember when Barack Obama said he opposed gay marriage in 2008 as he was running for president? He was in the mainstream then, but that view is firmly outside of it now. Fully 70% of Americans support same-sex marriage. A generation ago, when Gallup first asked the question, only 27% did. It was in 2011 — barely a decade ago — that Americans’ support first surpassed opposition to same-sex marriage. (Obama publicly changed his position the next year.) What was once illegal is now celebrated.
Marijuana? A vast majority of Americans are with the late reggae star Bob Marley when he sang, “Le-gal-ize it.” Two-thirds of Americans think marijuana should be legal, a record high (sorry), according to Gallup. That’s quite a reversal in just a generation. Twenty years ago, two-thirds were against legalizing it. Americans came to realize that the ridiculous old movie “Reefer Madness” was parody more than parable as it became a cult classic. Marijuana, we now agree, is not meth.
Abortion. There is even some agreement on still-divisive issues like abortion. Nearly six in 10 Americans didn’t want the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, and 85% think abortion should be legal at least in some circumstances. Of course, there’s a huge real-world difference between banning abortions after six weeks or limiting them at the former Roe standard of fetal viability. But it’s worth remembering that amid all of the angry debate, only 13% support an outright ban. In other words, nearly nine in 10 Americans think some abortions should be legal. Even among Republicans, only a 58% majority supported overturning Roe. For context, that wouldn’t be a big-enough majority to pass a constitutional amendment in Florida.
Given what we’ve seen happen on formerly divisive issues such as marijuana and same-sex marriage, who knows where public opinion on abortion might land in less than a generation? We might be surprised at the bridge that can be built between those who believe in a woman’s right to choose and control her body and those who believe that life begins at conception.
This is not a pollyanna-ish request to cut election deniers any slack or to let lies go uncorrected. It’s just a small tonic to imbibe as you fill out your mail-in ballot or prepare to vote in person, to keep in mind how different our views as Americans are from where they were even a few years ago — and how much we actually agree on. As the late poet Maya Angelou wrote in “Human Family,” “We are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike.”