New research shows half of all Americans are angrier
today than they were a year ago. Think about it. When you watch the news
does it make you angry? I read this article in Esquire. (Yes, I know, not many women
have a subscription to Esquire, but I love the writing and it helps me
understand what is important to men.) What do you think. Are you Angrier?
American Rage: The Esquire/NBC News Survey·
Jan 3, 2016
WE THE
PEOPLE ARE PISSED. THE BODY POLITIC IS BURNING UP. AND THE ANGER THAT
COURSES THROUGH OUR HEADLINES AND NEWS FEEDS—ABOUT INJUSTICE AND INEQUALITY,
ABOUT MARGINALIZATION AND DISENFRANCHISEMENT, ABOUT WHAT THEY ARE DOING TO
US—SHOWS NO SIGN OF ABATING. ESQUIRE TEAMED UP WITH NBC NEWS TO SURVEY
3,000 AMERICANS ABOUT WHO'S ANGRIEST, WHAT'S MAKING THEM ANGRY, AND WHO'S
TO BLAME.
LET'S BEGIN WITH THE BIG REVEALS: Half of all
Americans are angrier today than they were a year ago. White Americans are the
angriest of all. And black Americans are more optimistic about the future of
the country and the existence of the American dream. There are depths and
dimensions, dark corners and subtle contours to our national mood, and setting
aside the issue of who actually has a right to be angry and about what—these
pages are neutral territory; everyone is allowed their beef—we found three main
factors shaping American rage:
EXPECTATIONS: Are you
disappointed? Do you feel stifled and shortchanged and sold a bill of goods?
Then you're probably pretty angry. Consider the white men and women in our
survey: From their views on the state of the American dream (dead) and
America's role in the world (not what it used to be) to how their life is
working out for them (not quite what they'd had in mind), a plurality of whites
tends to view life through a veil of disappointment. When we cross-tabulate
these feelings with reports of daily anger (which are higher among whites than
nonwhites), we see the anger of perceived disenfranchisement—a sense
that the majority has become a persecuted minority, the bitterness of a promise
that didn't pan out—rather than actual hardship. (If anger were tied to
hardship, we'd expect to see nonwhite Americans—who report having a harder time
making ends meet than whites, per question three—reporting higher levels of
anger. This is not the case.)
Indeed, despite having what many would
consider a more legitimate case for feeling angry, black Americans are
generally less angry than whites. Though they take great issue with the way
they are treated by both society in general and the police in particular,
blacks are also more likely than whites to believe that the American dream is
still alive; that America is still the most powerful country in the world; that
race relations have improved over the past eight years; and, most important in
the context of expectations, that their financial situation is better than they
thought it would be when they were younger. Their optimism in the face of
adversity suggests that hope, whatever its other virtues, remains a potent
antidote to anger.
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EMPATHY: When we take a
close look at our respondents by gender, women report a greater rise in anger
than men over the past year. (See question two.) One possible explanation:
Although they share many of the same frustrations with respect to dashed
expectations, they are more likely than men to be angry about the treatment of
others. (See question 14.) That perception of unfairness has a way of rubbing
people the wrong way.
EXPERIENCE: Seventy percent
of blacks express anger about the way they are treated by society. Forty-eight
percent of women are angry about the way they are treated. Even 21 percent of
white men say they are angry at how they are treated in this country.
People get angry when they don't like how they and theirs are treated. People,
we suppose, are funny like that.
A NOTE ABOUT TERMINOLOGY: Anger—the intensity
and frequency with which it is felt—can be a challenge to measure, but for
these purposes we kept it simple: We measured and compared anger primarily
according to the frequency with which respondents report hearing or reading
something that makes them angry. Those who report feeling angry a few times a
day are considered angrier than those who report feeling angry once a day, who
are angrier than those who get angry once a week, and so forth. To the lucky
souls who say they rarely hear or read something that makes them angry, namaste:
We'd love to know your secret.
TRIGGER WARNING
IN THIS
ARTICLE WE ASK QUESTIONS ABOUT RACE, RELIGION, SEX, SEXUALITY, MONEY, AND
A MULTITUDE OF OTHER POTENTIAL UNPLEASANTRIES.
About how often do you hear or read
something in the news that makes you angry?
Seventy-three percent of whites say they
get angry at least once a day, as compared with 56 percent of blacks and 66
percent of Hispanics. Seventy-seven percent of Republicans get angry at least
once a day, as compared with 67 percent of Democrats.The least angry
household-income brackets: the very rich ($150,000-plus) and the very
poor ($15,000 and less). The most angry: the middle of the middle
class
($50,000 to $74,999).
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FIFTY THREE
PERCENT OF WOMEN SAY THEY'RE ANGRIER (AS COMPARED WITH 44 PERCENT OF MEN). MORE
SPECIFICALLY: 58 PERCENT OF WHITE WOMEN AND 51 PERCENT OF WHITE MEN SAY THEY'RE
ANGRIER (AS COMPARED WITH 44 PERCENT OF NONWHITE WOMEN AND 32 PERCENT OF NONWHITE
MEN).
Which best describes your family's
financial situation? You feel as if you:
- Make enough to save and buy some extras. 35%
- Make just enough to pay bills and obligations. 46%
- Don't make enough to pay all the bills. 18%
There's little correlation between anger
and how one's faring financially. In fact, though whites report less difficulty
making ends meet than blacks and Hispanics, they report greater instances of
anger.
Do you think the American dream—if
you work hard, you'll get ahead—is alive and well?
• Blacks are more likely than whites
and Hispanics to say the dream is alive (45 percent versus 35 and
34).• Men are more likely than women to say the dream is alive (40 percent
versus 33).• The group most down on the American dream: Americans between
the ages of 45 and 64, i.e., the ones who are sweating about retirement.
Which of the following comes closest
to your opinion of today's immigrants?
- They strengthen our country because of their hard
work and talents. 51%
- They are a burden on our country because they take
our jobs, housing, and health care. 46%
Seventy-three percent of Hispanics and 63
percent of blacks believe immigrants strengthen our country; only 43 percent of
whites agree. Compared with those who hold pro-immigration views, those who
hold anti-immigration views are significantly more likely to say the American
dream is dead; significantly more likely to say the U. S. was once but is no
longer the most powerful country; and twice as likely to say that white men are
struggling to keep up in today's world.
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What's your sense of America's place
in the world?
- The U. S. is the most powerful country in the world.
41%
- The U. S. was once the most powerful country but
isn't anymore. 54%
- The U. S. was never the most powerful country. 4%
TELLING STATISTIC NO. 1: Whites are more
likely than blacks to say their financial situation today isn't what they
thought it would be when they were younger.
TELLING STATISTIC NO. 2: Whites are more
likely than blacks to chalk up their current financial circumstances to things
being "harder today" than "wrong choices."
TELLING STATISTIC NO. 3: Whites are more
likely than blacks to say they get angry more than once a day.
- Changes in the U. S. tax code. 10%
- Wall Street banks and financial companies. 18%
- Capitalism in general. 17%
- Technology and increased productivity. 2%
- It's a natural part of the economic cycle. 3%
- Globalization and jobs going overseas. 17%
- Not enough educational opportunities. 3%
Of those who see the gap widening between
the rich and the poor, a majority (56 percent) say the American dream no longer
exists and that their financial situation is worse than they imagined it would
be. Fifty-five percent say the U. S. is not as powerful as it once was.
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From what you have heard or read
about the movement called #BlackLivesMatter, do you…
SCHOOL SHOOTINGS: THE RAGE WE ALL
AGREE ON
YOU'LL
NOTICE THAT SCHOOL SHOOTINGS AREN'T ADDRESSED IN ANY OF OUR "MAJOR
DIFFERENCES" BOXES. THIS IS BECAUSE RAGE ABOUT SCHOOL SHOOTINGS EXCEEDS A
RATE OF 90 PERCENT AMONG ALL ETHNICITIES, GENDERS, AND POLITICAL PARTIES.
THAT'S ABOUT AS CLOSE TO UNANIMOUS AS YOU CAN GET IN AMERICA.
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MAJOR DIFFERENCES BETWEEN POLITICAL
PARTIES
What Republicans get angriest about:
Congress being dysfunctional (80%); massive consumer fraud (80%); cops
shooting an unarmed black man (65%).
What Democrats get angriest about:
Cops shooting an unarmed black man (84%); massive consumer fraud (83%);
billionaire vowing to spend $500 million on 2016 elections (80%).
MAJOR DIFFERENCES AMONG ETHNICITIES:
Hispanics are more likely
than whites and blacks to be angry about climate change (49 percent versus 39
and 28).
Whites and Hispanics are more likely
than blacks (67 and 64 percent versus 44) to be angry about the Cosby headline.
Blacks are more likely
than whites and Hispanics to be mad about police violence against blacks (88
percent versus 71 and 76).
Whites are more likely
than blacks and Hispanics to be mad about the Hispanic population surge (42
percent versus 25 and 22).
MAJOR DIFFERENCES AMONG GENDERS:
Things that men are angrier about than women:
Global warming (42 percent versus 36 percent); Caitlyn Jenner's wedding (45
versus 36); gay marriage (27 versus 18).
Things that women are angrier than men
about:
Cops shooting an unarmed black man (77 percent versus 72 percent);
billionaires buying elections (73 versus 66).
Things that they are equally angry about:
Consumer fraud (80 percent versus 79 percent); dysfunction of Congress (74
versus 73); Cosby (65 versus 62); Hispanic population surge (33 versus 30).
Do you think recent killings of
African-American men by police are isolated incidents or part of a larger
pattern in the police's treatment of African-Americans?
THREE OUT OF
FIVE WHITE AMERICANS THINK THAT POLICE KILLINGS ARE ISOLATED INCIDENTS; THREE
OUT OF FOUR BLACK AMERICANS BELIEVE THEY'RE PART OF A PATTERN.
THE WEIRD
PART: WHITES ARE MUCH MORE LIKELY THAN BLACKS TO SAY THAT RACE RELATIONS HAVE
BECOME WORSE SINCE BARACK OBAMA WAS ELECTED. ONE POSSIBLE EXPLANATION: WHITES
ARE DOWN ON RACE RELATIONS BECAUSE OF THE WAY THEY BELIEVE THEY ARE TREATED,
NOT BECAUSE OF THE WAY BLACKS ARE TREATED.
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Which groups have a right to be angry
about how they're treated?
- Evangelical Christians 19%
- Muslims 34%
- Atheists 16%
- Blacks 47%
- Women 42%
- Hispanics 37%
- White men 18%
- LGBT individuals 45%
- None of the above 26%
Which of the following words do you
most closely associate with the term feminism?
Among women, 49 percent chose equality and
9 percent chose anger. Among men, 36 percent chose equality, while 19 percent
chose anger. (There was little difference in answers between genders with
respect to revolution and fairness.)
WHAT IT MEANS:
Whereas blacks and Hispanics get the angriest at how others are treated (as
seen in their roughly equal mean QAs), and blacks are the least likely to say
"none of the above" (meaning they are the most likely to care enough
to care), whites report the lowest degree of anger about how others are treated
(see the low anger quotient) and have the highest likelihood of saying "none
of the above."
THE EMPATHY GAP
When we asked respondents to tell us which
groups they felt had a right to be angry (question 13) and which groups they
themselves felt angry about (question 14), we noticed a gap between the two
percentages—an empathy gap.
In the general population, the greatest
empathy gap occurred when we asked people how they felt about the treatment of
blacks and Hispanics—there's a 6-percentage-point gap between the people who
believe that blacks and Hispanics are being wronged and those who are actually
angry about it. (When you ask about the treatment of women, the gap is 3
percentage points; when you ask about Muslims, it's 4.)
Among ethnicities, Hispanics report the
lowest average empathy gap: 2.625 percentage points between recognizing a
group's right to be angry and feeling anger on that group's behalf. (Compare
this with 3.875 percentage points among whites and 4.875 percentage points
among blacks.) The largest gap exists with respect to how blacks feel about the
treatment of Hispanics (47 percent of blacks believe Hispanics have a right to
be angry, while 37 percent of blacks are actually angry about that treatment).
To determine the intensity of anger of
certain groups when it comes to the way their fellow Americans are treated–a
kind of quantified anger–we isolate our responders by gender and
ethnicity and averaged the rates of their reported feelings of anger about
the treatment of others.
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WHAT IT MEANS: Whereas blacks
and Hispanics get the angriest at how others are treated (as seen in their
roughly equal mean QAs), and blacks are the least likely to say "none of
the above" (meaning they are the most likely to care enough to care),
whites report the least anger about how others are treated (see the low anger
quotient) and have the highest likelihood of saying "none of the above."
Which of the following best describes
your opinion of white men in the United States?
- They have historically run the country and still do.
38%
- They are less powerful than they used to be but
still have a lot of control. 46%
- They are struggling to keep up, while other groups
are moving ahead. 14%
Last year, a county clerk in
Kentucky, Kim Davis, refused to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples on
the basis of her religious beliefs. Do you…
- Support her decision. 24%
- Oppose her decision. 61%
- Not sure. 13%
A MAJORITY
OF DAVIS SUPPORTERS BELIEVES THE U. S. IS NO LONGER THE CHRISTIAN NATION IT
ONCE WAS. THEY ALSO BELIEVE THAT THE GOVERNMENT INTERFERING WITH PEOPLE'S
ABILITY TO PRACTICE RELIGION IS OF GREATER CONCERN THAN RELIGIOUS GROUPS
FORCING THEIR BELIEFS ON OTHERS.
Which of the following statements
comes closest to your view?
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Do you think elected officials
generally enact policies that favor the interests of …
If your were going to attend a
protest, what would your sign say?
#BlackLivesMatter 14%
#BlackLivesMatter
Is a Hate Group. 6%
Make English
America's OfficialLanguage. 24%
We Don't Build
Walls.We Tear Them Down. 17%
Keep Your Hands
off My Uterus. 12%
Abortion Is
Murder. 13%
Don't Tell Me
How to Dress. Tell Them Not to Rape. 18%
We Came Unarmed.
This Time. 6%
The NRA Kills
Our Kids. 10%
We Are the 99
Percent. Occupy Wall Street. 10%
Taxed Enough
Already. 36%
Top three signs for Republicans:
Taxed Enough Already; Make English America's Official Language; Abortion Is
Murder.
Top three signs for Democrats:
We Don't Build Walls. We Tear Them Down; Taxed Enough Already; Don't Tell Me
How to Dress. Tell Them Not to Rape.
The NBC News/SurveyMonkey/Esquire Online
Poll was conducted from November 20 to 24, 2015, among a national sample of
3,257 adults ages 18 and over, including a targeted sample of adults with an
education level of high school or less. Data for this survey have been weighted
for age, race, sex, education, region, evangelism, and religious affiliation to
reflect the demographic composition of the United States. For more on the
methodology, click here.
Photography: Jane Stockdale
for Esquire
Typography: Sean Freeman +
Eve Steben for Esquire
Patti Wood, MA, Certified Speaking Professional - The Body Language Expert. For more body language insights go to her website at
www.PattiWood.net. Check out Patti's website for her new book "SNAP, Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language and Charisma" at
www.snapfirstimpressions.com. Also check out Patti's YouTube channel at
http://youtube.com/user/bodylanguageexpert.
