By Jeremy Zogby, Managing Partner
We recently offered 1,175 voters a wide-ranging and representative list of 31 iconic individuals/organizations. We asked them whether each represents their values all of the time, most of the time, sometimes, not much, never, or not sure.
Having removed choices “sometimes” and “not sure” from the reporting because they are more or less neutral ratings, we utilize choices that represent positive and negative and offer a ranking in the following table.
First, let’s review the rankings. Then, I’ll weave an interpretive narrative and let the numbers speak for themselves.
Who Represents Your Values? Ranked by combined choices – All/Most of the Time
| Individual/Organizations | All/Most of the Time | Not Much/Never |
| Your Mother | 70% | 10% |
| Your Local Police | 43% | 22% |
| Barack Obama | 40% | 37% |
| Your Priest, Minister, Rabbi, Imam | 39% | 21% |
| U.S. Military Leadership | 37% | 20% |
| Your Local United Way | 34% | 18% |
| Donald Trump | 32% | 49% |
| Joe Biden | 30% | 48% |
| Your Next-Door Neighbor | 31% | 21% |
| The United Nations | 28% | 29% |
| Pope Francis | 27% | 32% |
| Anthony Fauci | 27% | 39% |
| Your Local Democrats | 26% | 44% |
| Black Lives Matter | 25% | 43% |
| NATO | 24% | 30% |
| George W. Bush | 24% | 35% |
| Your Local Republicans | 24% | 46% |
| Hillary Clinton | 24% | 49% |
| Democratic National Committee | 23% | 43% |
| National Rifle Association | 23% | 44% |
| Oprah Winfrey | 21% | 43% |
| Republican National Committee | 21% | 48% |
| Volodymyr Zelenskyy | 19% | 31% |
| Pfizer | 19% | 42% |
| Tucker Carlson | 19% | 42% |
| AFL-CIO | 18% | 39% |
| Elon Musk | 18% | 45% |
| Candace Owens | 16% | 28% |
| Benjamin Netanyahu | 14% | 38% |
| Al Sharpton | 14% | 47% |
| January 6th Protestors | 11% | 61% |
Letting the Numbers Speak + Interpretation
Mom comes out on top because that’s where it all begins, and a society where offspring and mom are divided is probably the most drastic example of a dysfunctional and failed society. Thankfully, 70% – a super majority (a term we’re not accustomed to hearing in this current landscape) say their mother represents their values all or most of the time. Conversely, just 10% say not much/never. Because mom is the archetype for nurturing and whose chief role is to provide a secure environment to thrive in the home first, then later in society, it naturally follows local police would top second on the list. Of course, we see a significant drop from 70% to 43%, going from the number one spot to the number two spot. This is unsurprising, considering we’re in the era of law enforcement, and the days of peacekeepers on Mulberry Street are long past. Without getting into a debate about whether crime is up or down (I would argue it’s up), we can agree shock and awe crimes are on the rise. Citizens and police alike are on edge, so there is less trust between the two. Here, race is important to consider – 50% of white voters say their local police represent their values vs. 30% of non-white voters who say the same. The racial divide impacts the numbers significantly. Still, respondents were two times more likely to say their local police represent their values more than not.
Number three on the list is Barack Obama—on the one hand, a surprise; on the other, not so much. From 2007 to 2008, for many, Obama represented a political messiah coming off the extreme low that defined the end of the Bush presidency, where there was a pervasive cloud of disillusionment. Although Obama left office less popular than he entered, since then, seven years of hyper-emergency and nonstop panic have ensued – therefore, 2016 appears a golden year in hindsight – especially to moderates, liberals, and non-whites who make up the bulk of Obama’s high score.
While Obama was touted as a political savior and is still somewhat revered in light of the long emergency (2017 to present), we can’t forget those figures who spiritually guide us within our communities – our local priests, ministers, rabbis, and imams, who come in fourth place. Interestingly, looking at Catholics, Protestants, and Jews (we don’t have a sizeable enough number of Muslims to report), only half of each cohort says their spiritual leader represents their values all or most of the time.
Coming in fifth place is the U.S. military leadership. What’s intriguing is party identification – Democrats and Republicans are aligned. Both parties report roughly four of ten (39% of Democrats and 41% of Republicans) who say military leadership represents their values all or most of the time). Independents are less so, coming in at 31%. In the age of anxiety in which we live, security is a significant theme. All top issues in our polling deal with security in one way or another – inflation, the border, crime, and even the environment. Of course, the military has long been particularly revered in this nation’s history, and most nations in general, one might have expected it to be higher. Let’s look at voters with a veteran in their household – 36% say the U.S. military leadership often represents them. The pattern is getting clearer: Americans swim in a sea of uncertainty. Institutions once held in high esteem are increasingly not like us. Is this the result of hyper-polarization? Return to the above table and notice only one choice breaks 50%.
Let’s analyze this by looking at the gaps between the two scores (which represent our values often vs. not often). Take note that Pope Francis and the UN more or less break even. Notice how your local United Way – like local religious leaders and local police are extremely net positive – that is, voters say these choices represent their values much more often than not. At the same time, take note that local Republicans and Democrats, Black Lives Matter, Anthony Fauci, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden, the RNC, DNC, Tucker Carlson, Elon Musk, Hillary Clinton, and the NRA are vastly underwater. The common thread is any individual or institution that has entered or is aligned with the national political arena (the political Coliseum, to be frank) scores poorly.
Finally, January 6th: Protestors are in a league unto themselves 50 percentage points underwater. They are the personification of the thesis that has jumped out from a simple analysis of letting the data speak for itself – Americans are growing intensely tired of hyper-charged politics and are perhaps getting to a point where the only things they believe represent them well are non-political local entities and their mother.
Although I’m a fierce critic of all presidents (I think it’s my civic duty), I hypothesize that Obama’s unique place at the top of the list is exceptional for one main reason. After a prolonged emergency from 2017 to the present, a considerable portion of the electorate associates his presidency with an era of politics that didn’t boil over and constantly manifest in mass hysteria, which the public has been acclimated to continuously since 2017 under both Trump and Biden. The data shows this current 7-year saga has taken a toll on voters. A deep dive into the numbers supports this viewpoint.
The Future
Unless an intense conflict draws Americans into it, I believe a sizeable portion of the public may tune out the national drama and begin rebuilding their communities from the bottom up. Believe it or not, a lot of change can occur at the town hall, town square, local fundraisers, the farmer’s market, municipal halls, places of worship, and intimate gatherings in the homes of those with tight community ties.
Returning to the relatively positive ratings of the Pope and the UN (remember, their scores essentially break even), I think this could be the main juxtaposition as we go forward. National politics will likely continue to devolve, as witnessed by national media and its incessant tendency to viciously label opposing views and divide groups, leaving citizens with two main themes over the coming years: going local or global. Given that both are popular choices of the day, it is probable that large swathes of the public will go separate ways.
Let’s look at who will likely drive this trend. For the UN, it is Democrats and liberals who tend to say the UN often represents their values. For the police and local religious leaders (they’re nearly tied and at the top of the list), it is voters in small cities (40%), suburbs (44%), and rural (53%) who say their local police represent their values all or most of the time. Similar numbers are held by voters across urban, suburban, and rural landscapes (ranging from high 30s to low 40s), regarding local religious leaders.
This is a trend worth tracking as significant events continue to unfold.
Finally, we’ll end with a staggering fact discovered in this poll. When voters were asked top of mind who they trust – a whopping 21% stated no one.
You can view our previous podcast for additional analysis.
