The State of Polarization: 2022. Christa Case Bryant and Story Hinckley

Let's Find Common Ground

One year after the January 6th assault on the U.S. Capitol, we take a close look at America's political divide with two journalists who covered the calamitous events on that day and the responses to them.

Our guests are Christa Case Bryant, Congressional correspondent for The Christian Science Monitor, and Story Hinckley, the Monitor's National political correspondent. We discuss whether America is more polarized than it was one year ago and the prospects for finding common ground in Congress and across the country.

A Washington Post - University of Maryland opinion poll published on New Year's Day confirmed that Americans have totally different views of the 2020 election results. While large majorities of Democrats and independent voters say there was no evidence of widespread fraud, more than 60% of Republicans say there was.

In their reporting throughout the year, both of our guests sought answers to complex questions about what caused people to storm the Capitol, and why Democrats and Republicans have opposing views about voter access and election laws. In this episode, we also examine the role of the media and individual reporters in covering the state of polarization in America today.