Updated March 8, 2026, 8:13 p.m. ET
For many Americans, this time of year is about personal reflection. Christians have entered the season of Lent, a time of self-preparation for the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection. Muslims are in the month of Ramadan. While not at this time of year, Jews have Yom Kippur to look forward to in September, when their faith calls for self-examination. The fact that these three religious traditions (and others) have holidays of utmost importance that focus on self-reflection is interesting on many levels. Still, it is not the focus of this article. You guessed it, there’s a connection to politics! With so many Americans focused on looking inward at this time of year, maybe it’s a less-dangerous time to make this point.
I’m teaching a course this semester for the Donna and Walt Young Honors College at Oakland University called “The Foundations of Civil Discourse.” In it, we’re tackling topics from history, like the relationships and friendships between people such as President Ronald Reagan and Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill, as well as Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia. We’re also talking about the First Amendment, free speech, so-called hate speech, and how some other countries are trying to legislate civility.
We’ve also talked about the polarization that is gripping our nation. There is no question it is related to the rancor and incivility that dominate discussions of all kinds of political issues. An interesting piece of data our class discussed is the fact that, according to Gallup, large majorities of the public believe that both Democrats and Republicans have “gone too far in using inflammatory language to criticize their political opponents.” Nearly 70% of Americans say the GOP has gone too far, and 60% say Democrats have taken their language over the line. These current measurements represent double-digit increases from the last time Gallup surveyed the public on this question. These results are surprising only because of the level of agreement. It’s difficult to get 60% of Americans to agree on much of anything these days. How are these data connected to religious holidays focused on self-reflection? In short, while tens of millions of Americans look inward during religious holidays, relatively few are willing to do so regarding the political language they use. Again, relying on Gallup data, partisans clearly see overheated rhetoric and incivility as mainly a problem for “the other side.” Among Democrats, 93% say Republicans have gone too far in using inflammatory language to criticize their political opponents, but only 28% say members of their own party have done so. It’s a similar story on the Republican side, with 94% saying Democrats have taken their language too far but only 36% saying some of their fellow Republicans are guilty of the same.
In short, it seems very few partisans are willing to look inward and take stock of the language their fellow partisans, or even they themselves, might use to critique political opponents.For those who might say, “at this moment, civility isn’t enough” or “sometimes harsh language is what is needed,” that’s a convenient excuse. The Gallup data would tell us that many Democrats likely do not think behavior like chanting “f*** Trump,” like California gubernatorial candidate Katie Porter did recently, could be linked to the assassination attempts on the President. It would also seem to tell us that many Republicans would not think that Trump calling Supreme Court justices who struck down most of his tariffs “fools and lap dogs” and “a disgrace to the nation” might lead to real threats to those members of the Court. Are there direct links between one utterance and violence? Probably not. Does each one feed into a cumulative escalation of rhetoric?? Of course. There are often calls to “lower the temperature.” Real change is impossible until both our leaders and our neighbors accept that their side is part of the problem. Maybe this season of introspection can be the spark that we need. David Dulio is interim Chief Community Engagement Officer, Director of the Center for Civic Engagement and a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Political Science at Oakland University.
