Keen On America Americans Actually Dislike Each Other: The Unsavory Truth Behind the Data
Dec 25, 2025
Andrea Jones-Rooy, a data scientist and former NYU professor, dives into the fascinating yet unsettling truths about American society. She explains that while we may seem divided, it's often just a deep-seated dislike rather than genuine ideological disagreement. Jones-Rooy debunks myths about immigration, revealing that the undocumented population is smaller than perceived. She also discusses the shift from trusting institutions to media personalities and how emotional triggers like anger play into political engagement. Lastly, she emphasizes the need for curiosity and empathy to bridge divides.
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Dislike Trumps Policy Disagreement
- Americans are more emotionally divided than substantively split on policies; affective polarization drives perceptions of disagreement.
- Once partisan identity is revealed, people assume broad differences across many issues, deepening dislike rather than true policy distance.
Cross-Cutting Views Have Vanished
- Political identities now cluster so people rarely hold cross-cutting views that bridge sides, reducing points of commonality.
- Facilitated, non-charged conversations (including AI facilitators) can surface shared views once identities are set aside.
Teach Yourself Data Literacy
- Don’t ask people to simply trust experts; learn to read and evaluate data yourself where feasible.
- Use critical literacy to assess claims, but accept you may need trusted, rigorous sources when time is limited.