As it turns out, Americans are still full of hope

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On a special episode (first released on Sep. 18, 2024) of The Excerpt podcast: On the cusp of an historic election, where partisan divides are tearing both families and communities apart, USA TODAY went out looking for hope in America. Over the course of the summer, USA TODAY reporters visited six towns, all named Hope, to gauge the mood of the voters. Podcast host Dana Taylor's visit to Hope, Arkansas was among them and was featured in part one of this series on Hope in America, which aired last Sunday. Following our reporting on the ground, USA TODAY conducted an exclusive poll with voters. USA TODAY Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page joins The Excerpt to share her insights.

Hit play on the player below to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript beneath it. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

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Dana Taylor:

Hello and welcome to The Excerpt. I'm Dana Taylor. Today is Wednesday, September 18th, 2024, and this is a special episode of The Excerpt. On the cusp of an historic election where partisan divides are tearing both families and communities apart, USA TODAY went out looking for hope in America. How were the American voters feeling about their futures and the futures of their children and grandchildren? Which issues were they most concerned about and how did they hope America would emerge from this election? Over the course of the summer, USA TODAY reporters visited six towns to gauge the mood of the voters. What did they all have in common? They were all named Hope. My visit to Hope, Arkansas, was among them and was featured in part one of this series on hope in America, which aired Sunday. There's a link in today's show notes. Following our reporting on the ground, USA TODAY conducted an exclusive poll with voters. What were our insights and conclusions on hope in America? For those, I turn now to USA TODAY Washington Bureau chief Susan Page. Thanks for being on The Excerpt, Susan.

Susan Page:

Hey, it's so great to be with you again.

Dana Taylor:

Susan, start us off here with a little background on the concept of hope in America from a political perspective. How has the concept of hope played into our presidential elections and has fear also had a role? Give us a 30,000-foot view here.

Susan Page:

You know, Dana, you went for this project, Hope, Arkansas. Hope, Arkansas had a moment in the sun in 1992 when Bill Clinton announced that he was a man from a place called Hope when he took the Democratic presidential nomination that year and went on to win the White House for two terms, and that was a message of hope that really resonated with people. Again, when Barack Obama was running in 2008, he said he stood for hope and change, and you may remember that iconic campaign poster that Obama had, which just had those four letters, hope, H-O-P-E, that kind of summed up what he wanted his campaign to be about. But we've now entered a period where fear is perhaps a more powerful motivator for voters. We have Donald Trump warning of apocalyptic consequences if he is not reelected to a second term in November, and we have Democrats, Kamala Harris, and before her, Joe Biden, describing Trump as a danger to democracy if he does win another term. So hope is a big motivator. Fear can be a big motivator too.

If all you saw about America was to look at our politics, you would think we were as a nation not very hopeful, that we were so concerned about the big challenges that we face that we have taken a pretty negative term. That would not be entirely correct, that would not be a correct reading of where America stands. As we discovered in our reporting, America remains a pretty hopeful place about everything except our politics. We ask Americans, "Do you have hope for the future of the country?" And by six to one, Americans said, "Yes, we have hope for the future of the country." That's very encouraging. But then we ask, "When you cast your vote in November, are you voting mostly because of what you hope your candidate will do, or are you voting because you fear what the other candidate will do?" And only about half of Americans, 49%, said their ballot was going to be based on hope. Almost as many, 41%, said their ballot was going to be based on fear.

Dana Taylor:

In addition to hope, you found other positive things that most folks agree on. What are Americans optimistic about?

Susan Page:

We asked what makes you hopeful, and two things were at the very top of the list. One was the American spirit, which is a kind of gauzy concept. People may have different interpretations of what that means, but that ranked very high. The other thing, and this was so interesting, was the U.S. Constitution. There is a reverence for our Constitution that is really one of the things that binds us together as a nation.

Dana Taylor:

You also asked people about the opposite, what was making them feel hopeless? How does fear factor into this election?

Susan Page:

Americans don't agree on much, but they agree on what makes them feel hopeless about the future. That is, number one, politicians and number two, the polarization that we've had in our politics. It makes it difficult for even sometimes people in the same family to talk to one another about politics. And across party lines, across lines of age and gender and race, those were the two things that Americans cite as the biggest problems they see in looking for a hopeful future.

Dana Taylor:

As I saw firsthand with my own reporting in Arkansas, what people really care about in America isn't very political. It's more about their day-to-day lives. Do they have enough money to live their lives comfortably? Are they going to be able to give their children and grandchildren a brighter future? What were your findings?

Susan Page:

Yes, the economy, the state of the economy, what's happening around my own kitchen table? That's very important. The other thing we found in all the communities we went was the kind of power of community, and in several of the places where we did reporting, we found that people have stopped talking to their neighbors about politics because they don't want to get into the divisiveness of that. They still want to talk to them about matters of community, how to make their town better, how to make life better for the people who live there.

Dana Taylor:

In D.C. circles, which you regularly swim in, people talk about abortion and immigration as the big ticket issues which will drive voters in this election. Is that true? What are voters' main concerns and are they the same or different for Republicans and Democrats?

Susan Page:

Yes, there are some big issues facing the country that I think drive our election, and they're different between the two parties. For instance, immigration is an issue that really concerns and motivates a lot of Republican voters. That's one reason you hear Donald Trump talk so much about immigration and illegal immigration in all of his presidential campaigns. Immigration is not as strong a factor for Democratic voters. One of the issues that really motivates a lot of Democratic voters is democracy itself, a concern that Donald Trump represents a threat to democracy. That's been a powerful issue for Democrats more so than for Republicans.

Abortion also is an issue that really motivates a lot of Democratic voters. The Democratic Party has long been a pro-choice party. It is now an issue that divides Republican voters, and that is a change this time because in the past before Roe v. Wade was overturned, Republican voters who were pro-choice generally felt protected by the constitutional right that Roe v. Wade recognized. It didn't matter so much in the Republican Party. It matters a lot this time, and you look at a key state like Pennsylvania, for instance, the issue of abortion is one that will be, I think, very much featured in the Pennsylvania campaign by Democrats who are trying to win over some of those traditionally Republican suburban voters around Philadelphia, especially women.

Dana Taylor:

Hyper-partisanship continues to be a major issue across the nation, particularly in this election cycle. Are politicians listening to voters on this point? You talk about communities not wanting to talk politics with their neighbors anymore. Are they able to talk about the issues at all?

Susan Page:

Well, I think that we have seen both campaigns talk a lot about the fear part of our politics. That's certainly true with Donald Trump, who warns of economic collapse and international calamity and war, even a new World War III, if he is not elected to a second term in November. Joe Biden, when he was the Democratic nominee, also talked in some very apocalyptic language about the future of democracy if Donald Trump were reelected. That's shifted a little bit with Kamala Harris coming now as the Democratic presidential nominee, but she also portrays Donald Trump as a despot and a danger. So we've had a pretty fierce tone to this election. That is not irrational. We face big challenges as a country. We've just come out of a pandemic, the worst in a century. We've got land war in Europe. I mean, we do have big challenges as a country. But you think back to the presidents who are considered the greatest in American history, in times worse than these.

As the Civil War approached, Abraham Lincoln talked about appealing to the better angels of our nature and FDR, as we were struggling with the Great Depression, said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." So we have seen in the past how even when times are bad, a political leader who talks about hope can really prevail in a big way. And the political rhetoric that we hear, I think does affect how Americans feel about how things are going. Americans can feel uplifted when they hear optimistic rhetoric, declarations of hope. They can also feel that things are really going badly when the political rhetoric they hear is so negative.

Dana Taylor:

Belief in one's family, faith, and community continues to be a foundational tenet for many Americans. Do you have any other insights to share? How might these ties impact voters?

Susan Page:

They matter a lot, these very traditional values. Family, first of all, faith came in second, friends came in high. Faith in young people also something that buoyed the spirits of a lot of the Americans we surveyed. We're in kind of the TikTok generation, we think everything is so different than it used to be, but when you look at the things that people really rely on, they are family, faith, and friends, and that is what gives people hope and lifts their spirit as even they face difficult times.

Dana Taylor:

This network wide reporting project took us from Maine to Alaska. Included the polling you and your team did. What surprised you the most, Susan?

Susan Page:

The thing that surprised me the most was the disparity between a general sense of optimism about the future and a great, deep, almost bitter dissatisfaction with our politics.

Dana Taylor:

And finally, if you were to give our listeners and viewers one big takeaway from all of the reporting USA TODAY did on hope in America, what would it be?

Susan Page:

We continue to be an optimistic and resilient nation. That is the American spirit. That hasn't gone away. But we feel burdened by our politics, and there's some irony here because our politics are us. We control our politics. So this disparity that we see between our unhappiness with the way our political debate is going, and our general sense that America's a great nation and will still be despite the challenges we face, that is a puzzle we need to figure out.

Dana Taylor:

Thanks for joining me, Susan.

Susan Page:

My pleasure. Thank you, Dana.

Dana Taylor:

Thanks to our senior producers Shannon Rae Green and Kaely Monahan for their production assistance. Our executive producer is Laura Beatty. Let us know what you think of this episode by sending a note to podcasts@usatoday.com. Thanks for listening. I'm Dana Taylor. Taylor Wilson will be back tomorrow morning with another episode of The Excerpt.

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As it turns out, Americans are still full of hope

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