“You mad bro?” Why are we so angry?: GULF SOUTH INDEX
We avoid talking about political issues in the GSI for two reasons:
1.We care about why we act the way we do and how that influences our decisions on who to listen to, what to buy and where to go. If you want to see how people feel about political issues, you can drown in one poll after another and/or listen to hundreds of talking heads to your heart’s content. We know some really, really smart commentators that provide excellent context about where we are politically.
2.Once the GSI starts talking about politics, we piss off half of the audience.
This second reason is sticking with me. It isn’t that 50% of us are pissed. It’s like 100% of us are pissed. Not at the Gulf South Index – I hope – or at me … yet.
How someone feels about the politics part of the public discourse is not my concern. I believe that we have a duty to vote. I love voting. Who you vote for is up to you and your good judgment. It is one of the most basic rights we have as Americans, and on that, 91% of you likely agree with me, according to a poll from the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research at the University of Chicago.
There are also people reading that last sentence and thinking “My good judgment is fine. It’s that other idiot’s bad judgment that I’m worried about.” This is exactly my point.
Things look grim. We are an angry public.
“Consumers are just really pissed off about the world.”
— Claudi Sahm, former economist at the U.S. Federal Reserve
73% of the nation thinks we are on the wrong track.
In the Gulf South, 67% of us are dissatisfied with the way things are going in the U.S.
We are the least optimistic about the year ahead than we’ve ever been in the five years of the Gulf South Index (43%).
“It’s a fight to the death!”
It isn’t that we are just angry at the other person’s politics. We are now angry at the products that other people buy, media outlets they pay attention to and who we remain friends with BECAUSE of that person’s political stance.
-Everything is politics. It is in everything. “Where we worship, what we drive, where we live, where we shop, and what we drink, the books we read, the words we ban. The result: this puts more people in more settings on edge.” (M. Allen, July 14, 2024)
-Politics are no longer fought on academic and policy terms, like raising taxes vs. lowering taxes. More or less regulation. Increase defense spending or don’t. “Now it’s about our identity: our patriotism, our values, our feelings and emotions. So, attacks feel personal, not policy-centric.” (M. Allen, July 14, 2024)
“Jerry, you think we are fighting, and I think we are finally talking!”– Rod Tidwell, Pro Bowl wide receiver, Arizona Cardinals – Jerry McGuire (1996)
We agree on the right things in the Gulf South. No matter what our political beliefs are, we all consider certain values important in our personal lives.
-88% of those in the Gulf South believe in the value of hard work. The same percentage believe family is important to our personal lives.
-80% of us believe in the tolerance of others and 81% believe in the value of community.
-70% of us believe that patriotism is important to our personal lives. Two thirds of the US believes the same thing. A higher percentage than I would have believed.
It was worse before, if you can believe that. According to Bruce Melman, we were much more deeply divided during the Vietnam War between 1968 and 1974.
-The rate of inflation, violent crime and home mortgage rates are all lower today than they were in the 70s. But race relations & campus politics were more fraught then.
-Cancer rates were higher. Life expectancy lower. Energy efficiency was much worse (leaded gas, anyone?) and the pay gap between men and women much, much wider.
There is life after Election Day. After months of me acting like a dad and continually reminding my daughter to register to vote, she registered following a political discussion with one of her best friends last month. I had a two-part response to this great news. 1) I told her I was proud of her. 2) I said to her that whatever conversation she had about politics was not worth losing her friend.
Because it isn’t.
We will have more elections. We will have more debates. We will have good economies and bad ones. We will have more landmark court decisions. Who we are to each other in between these times has a lasting impact on our lives and how we go about them.
What is pouring gasoline on the fire?
Found this earlier this year and wanted to share it with some of my own commentary in parentheses.
“The last 25 years of the internet have been defined by the unbundling of what came before, reducing everything to smaller and more personalized atomic units of content. Newspapers and magazines became posts. Albums became singles (RIP the end-to-end greatness of U2’s The Joshua Tree). Only to compress further into ‘audios.’ Radio stations were cleaved in half, becoming playlists and podcasts. Linear TV shows, freed from linearity, now resemble single season-long mega-movies (Shout out to Slow Horses on Apple TV+). Movies, freed from theaters, now feel like, well, shorter seasons of TV. And, both, are typically consumed as 90-second clips.”
– “The end of everything and what’s next.’ – Ryan Broderick, Feb. 19, 2024.
We’ve had many times in American history where we’ve been deeply divided and angry at each other and/or the world. The difference is that we’ve never had social media, until now.
In a July 14, 2024, column, Mike Allen shared a thought about the visceral reactions in today’s public debate and ultimately, the threat of political violence it can produce. “Everyone sees it, feels it, predicts it. Some actively agitate for it on social media and TV. Now, we have it.
The loudest, most provocative, most bellicose voices echo loudest on most social media platforms…It seduces people to say and write things they might muffle or calibrate in person or with more words.” – America Plays with Fire, M. Allen, Axios, July 14, 2024.
“We have a built-in tendency that we’re better at spotting lies and understanding than other people. This pushes us to think that fake news, filter bubbles and post-truth are other people’s problems, not ours.”
– Bobby Duffy, chair of the International Social Research Institute
We’ve suffered significant trust problems with our societal institutions from church and Congress to the news media and public schools.
Half of us don’t trust information that comes from social media platforms, but 53% of Gen Z and 49% of Millennials in the Gulf South spend more than three hours a day on these same platforms.
It’s not me. It’s you. 63% of us think we can spot fake news, but only 41% think the average person can.
One third of us both locally and nationally don’t trust online news websites. 4 people out of 10 don’t trust podcasts. (GSI, 2024).
Back in the day, we trusted referees and more informational guardrails.
The most trusted person in America in 1970 was Walter Cronkite (Gallup). A journalist. For all you kids out there, wait for your grandparents to get to a commercial break on Fox News, CNN or MSNBC and ask them about Walter Cronkite.
We had a shared set of facts to work from. Now, we are debating things like “fake news” and something called “post-truth.” WTH?
Can we get past this?
We’ve noted the trend of “backyard optimism” in recent years at the GSI. Specifically, the closer someone gets to their own backyard, the better they feel about their lot in life. That trend is still alive.
-While 33% of us are satisfied with the way things are going in the U.S., 45% of us are satisfied with the way things are going in our respective Gulf South states.
The younger generations in the Gulf South show some wear and tear, however.
-4 of every 10 Gen Z residents of the Gulf South are unsure if they can achieve the American Dream.
-Less than half of Gen X and Millennials say that they can achieve the American Dream here.
On the upside:
-Nearly 80% of us in the Gulf South trust local news – the backyard optimism equivalent in the media. These are local faces we see in our community.
-Business is the most trusted voice today, according to the Edelman Trust Report. People believe what their employers are telling them in a much higher percentage than people believe their elected officials.
***
As humans, how we feel and what we believe is influenced more than ever by what we see, read, watch and share. As professionals who deal with an angry public, we rely on our ability to provide accurate information in a compelling way to help audiences of all types and sizes understand our point of view.
Two questions to ponder, though:
-How can we tell a compelling story if everyone quits listening?
-Are we a reflection of the environment that others are putting in front of us in 15-second videos OR is that environment just reflecting us to ourselves?
We will see.
Marc Ehrhardt President The Ehrhardt Group
DOWNLOAD OUR 2024 REPORT
The 2024 Gulf South Index by The Ehrhardt Group and Causeway Solutions has been our most read report to date! Thank you for all your support, and stick around for continued insights on consumer behavior, generational differences and more. If you missed this year’s report, click the link below to download now!
We avoid talking about political issues in the GSI for two reasons:
1.We care about why we act the way we do and how that influences our decisions on who to listen to, what to buy and where to go. If you want to see how people feel about political issues, you can drown in one poll after another and/or listen to hundreds of talking heads to your heart’s content. We know some really, really smart commentators that provide excellent context about where we are politically.
2.Once the GSI starts talking about politics, we piss off half of the audience.
This second reason is sticking with me. It isn’t that 50% of us are pissed. It’s like 100% of us are pissed. Not at the Gulf South Index – I hope – or at me … yet.
How someone feels about the politics part of the public discourse is not my concern. I believe that we have a duty to vote. I love voting. Who you vote for is up to you and your good judgment. It is one of the most basic rights we have as Americans, and on that, 91% of you likely agree with me, according to a poll from the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research at the University of Chicago.
There are also people reading that last sentence and thinking “My good judgment is fine. It’s that other idiot’s bad judgment that I’m worried about.” This is exactly my point.
Things look grim. We are an angry public.
“Consumers are just really pissed off about the world.”
— Claudi Sahm, former economist at the U.S. Federal Reserve
73% of the nation thinks we are on the wrong track.
In the Gulf South, 67% of us are dissatisfied with the way things are going in the U.S.
We are the least optimistic about the year ahead than we’ve ever been in the five years of the Gulf South Index (43%).
“It’s a fight to the death!”
It isn’t that we are just angry at the other person’s politics. We are now angry at the products that other people buy, media outlets they pay attention to and who we remain friends with BECAUSE of that person’s political stance.
-Everything is politics. It is in everything. “Where we worship, what we drive, where we live, where we shop, and what we drink, the books we read, the words we ban. The result: this puts more people in more settings on edge.” (M. Allen, July 14, 2024)
-Politics are no longer fought on academic and policy terms, like raising taxes vs. lowering taxes. More or less regulation. Increase defense spending or don’t. “Now it’s about our identity: our patriotism, our values, our feelings and emotions. So, attacks feel personal, not policy-centric.” (M. Allen, July 14, 2024)
“Jerry, you think we are fighting, and I think we are finally talking!” – Rod Tidwell, Pro Bowl wide receiver, Arizona Cardinals – Jerry McGuire (1996)
We agree on the right things in the Gulf South. No matter what our political beliefs are, we all consider certain values important in our personal lives.
-88% of those in the Gulf South believe in the value of hard work. The same percentage believe family is important to our personal lives.
-80% of us believe in the tolerance of others and 81% believe in the value of community.
-70% of us believe that patriotism is important to our personal lives. Two thirds of the US believes the same thing. A higher percentage than I would have believed.
It was worse before, if you can believe that. According to Bruce Melman, we were much more deeply divided during the Vietnam War between 1968 and 1974.
-The rate of inflation, violent crime and home mortgage rates are all lower today than they were in the 70s. But race relations & campus politics were more fraught then.
-Cancer rates were higher. Life expectancy lower. Energy efficiency was much worse (leaded gas, anyone?) and the pay gap between men and women much, much wider.
There is life after Election Day. After months of me acting like a dad and continually reminding my daughter to register to vote, she registered following a political discussion with one of her best friends last month. I had a two-part response to this great news. 1) I told her I was proud of her. 2) I said to her that whatever conversation she had about politics was not worth losing her friend.
Because it isn’t.
We will have more elections. We will have more debates. We will have good economies and bad ones. We will have more landmark court decisions. Who we are to each other in between these times has a lasting impact on our lives and how we go about them.
What is pouring gasoline on the fire?
Found this earlier this year and wanted to share it with some of my own commentary in parentheses.
“The last 25 years of the internet have been defined by the unbundling of what came before, reducing everything to smaller and more personalized atomic units of content. Newspapers and magazines became posts. Albums became singles (RIP the end-to-end greatness of U2’s The Joshua Tree). Only to compress further into ‘audios.’ Radio stations were cleaved in half, becoming playlists and podcasts. Linear TV shows, freed from linearity, now resemble single season-long mega-movies (Shout out to Slow Horses on Apple TV+). Movies, freed from theaters, now feel like, well, shorter seasons of TV. And, both, are typically consumed as 90-second clips.”
– “The end of everything and what’s next.’ – Ryan Broderick, Feb. 19, 2024.
We’ve had many times in American history where we’ve been deeply divided and angry at each other and/or the world. The difference is that we’ve never had social media, until now.
In a July 14, 2024, column, Mike Allen shared a thought about the visceral reactions in today’s public debate and ultimately, the threat of political violence it can produce. “Everyone sees it, feels it, predicts it. Some actively agitate for it on social media and TV. Now, we have it.
The loudest, most provocative, most bellicose voices echo loudest on most social media platforms…It seduces people to say and write things they might muffle or calibrate in person or with more words.” – America Plays with Fire, M. Allen, Axios, July 14, 2024.
“We have a built-in tendency that we’re better at spotting lies and understanding than other people. This pushes us to think that fake news, filter bubbles and post-truth are other people’s problems, not ours.”
– Bobby Duffy, chair of the International Social Research Institute
We’ve suffered significant trust problems with our societal institutions from church and Congress to the news media and public schools.
72% of Americans trusted mass media “a great deal/fair amount” then vs. 32% now.
Half of us don’t trust information that comes from social media platforms, but 53% of Gen Z and 49% of Millennials in the Gulf South spend more than three hours a day on these same platforms.
It’s not me. It’s you. 63% of us think we can spot fake news, but only 41% think the average person can.
One third of us both locally and nationally don’t trust online news websites. 4 people out of 10 don’t trust podcasts. (GSI, 2024).
Back in the day, we trusted referees and more informational guardrails.
The most trusted person in America in 1970 was Walter Cronkite (Gallup). A journalist. For all you kids out there, wait for your grandparents to get to a commercial break on Fox News, CNN or MSNBC and ask them about Walter Cronkite.
We had a shared set of facts to work from. Now, we are debating things like “fake news” and something called “post-truth.” WTH?
Can we get past this?
We’ve noted the trend of “backyard optimism” in recent years at the GSI. Specifically, the closer someone gets to their own backyard, the better they feel about their lot in life. That trend is still alive.
-While 33% of us are satisfied with the way things are going in the U.S., 45% of us are satisfied with the way things are going in our respective Gulf South states.
-Each generation is more satisfied with the way things are going in their state than in the nation. For Baby Boomers, who seem to be most locked in day in and day out on the cable news networks, 53% are dissatisfied with their state whereas 76% are dissatisfied with the nation, a 23% difference.
The younger generations in the Gulf South show some wear and tear, however.
-4 of every 10 Gen Z residents of the Gulf South are unsure if they can achieve the American Dream.
-Less than half of Gen X and Millennials say that they can achieve the American Dream here.
On the upside:
-Nearly 80% of us in the Gulf South trust local news – the backyard optimism equivalent in the media. These are local faces we see in our community.
-Business is the most trusted voice today, according to the Edelman Trust Report. People believe what their employers are telling them in a much higher percentage than people believe their elected officials.
***
As humans, how we feel and what we believe is influenced more than ever by what we see, read, watch and share. As professionals who deal with an angry public, we rely on our ability to provide accurate information in a compelling way to help audiences of all types and sizes understand our point of view.
Two questions to ponder, though:
-How can we tell a compelling story if everyone quits listening?
-Are we a reflection of the environment that others are putting in front of us in 15-second videos OR is that environment just reflecting us to ourselves?
We will see.
President
The Ehrhardt Group
DOWNLOAD OUR 2024 REPORT
The 2024 Gulf South Index by The Ehrhardt Group and Causeway Solutions has been our most read report to date! Thank you for all your support, and stick around for continued insights on consumer behavior, generational differences and more. If you missed this year’s report, click the link below to download now!