commentary The U.S. seems hopelessly divided. These Americans think otherwise Published May 12, 2026 6:45AM (EDT) Resolving the nation's democracy crisis will require convincing urban and rural Americans alike that they have more in common than what divides them (Getty Images) America is a broken political family. On the ground, this means that Democrats and Republicans, conservatives and liberals, do not live in the same neighborhoods or belong to the same organizations. They do not pray or worship together. They do not date or marry each other. They are not friends . Technical terms like “ negative partisanship ” and “polarization” are just fancy ways of saying that the American people do not like each other very much right now. In America’s political imagination, Democrats live in big cities, are racially and ethnically diverse, and college-educated. Republicans live in rural America and are working class.…