Americans divided – A new CNN poll finds Americans are narrowly divided over whether society has gone too far in accepting different cultures, gender identities, sexual orientations, and backgrounds. Republicans are leaning into those tensions in midterm campaigns, using “woke” a
For Ed Shedlock of Louisiana, the survey language landed like something he’s been watching unfold for years: a country where conversations get cut short, then people get punished for what they once would have said without a second thought.
“Things you’d never think twice about saying 2, 3, 4, 5 years ago, now people are suddenly saying, ‘Oh you can’t say that,’” Shedlock said. “Some people will cancel people for something so insignificant it’s not even worth having a conversation with them.”
That sense of cultural retrenchment is now being quantified. The new CNN poll. conducted by SSRS. finds Americans are sharply divided over the broad contours of what has come to be called the culture war. Just shy of half of Americans think society has gone too far in its acceptance of different cultures. gender identities. sexual orientations. and backgrounds. while a little over half reject that characterization.
The split isn’t just a general partisan divide—it’s getting bigger. Over the past year. Republicans and independents have grown more likely to say society’s level of acceptance has gone too far. That has pushed the overall share of the public who takes that view up 6 points from last summer. Close to eight in 10 Republicans now say they feel that way, as do 47% of political independents.
The question. the poll suggests. isn’t only about what people believe—it’s about what they think has become socially acceptable. and where they think the line should be drawn. When Americans are asked to choose the bigger social problem these days—people having to be too careful about what they say. or people feeling too comfortable making offensive statements—they land in a near tie.
Other issues, however, skew much more sharply. Only about one-third of Americans think the country would be improved by a return to 1950s ideals about traditional gender roles. Another 45% say it would be worse—up from 34% in 1997. The poll says that shift is mostly due to a growing consensus among American women.
Across the country, those cultural fault lines are now being pressed into campaign strategy.
In Texas. James Talarico—who. in the years before he ran for US Senate. said there were six sexes. declared that “God is nonbinary. ” and deemed it “existential” for Americans to reduce their meat consumption to combat climate change—has become a target for Republicans attacking him over social issues. As Republicans have assailed him over those comments. calling them “woke. ” Talarico has distanced himself from some of the remarks. calling them “cringey.”.
Talarico’s political opponents are not treating these as obscure, past statements. The poll describes Republicans as using “woke” attacks to galvanize voters and target Democratic candidates. especially by focusing on prior remarks about gender and other social issues. In a CBS News interview last month. Talarico said some of his statements “missed the mark. ” but he also accused his Republican opponent. Ken Paxton. of “intentionally clipping my cringey comments to distract from” his own political vulnerabilities.
South Carolina is showing how quickly the same themes can be turned into advertising. Ahead of the June 23 Republican runoff for South Carolina governor, Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette has invoked the “woke mob” in ads highlighting how she was disinvited from speaking at South Carolina State University after student protests. In the ads. she says. “I’ll make sure that if liberal institutions cancel conservatives. we cancel their funding.” She adds. “I’m Pamela Evette. and the woke mob will get nothing – and take nothing – from us.”.
In Nevada, the GOP primary for an open House seat produced similar messaging. David Flippo—the recent winner of that GOP primary—aired ads against his main competitor. James Settelmeyer. accusing him of being a “woke liberal pretending to be a Republican.” The commercial cites a number of votes Settelmeyer cast as a state senator.
And while these disputes are being amplified by Republicans, Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents see the issue through a different lens.
In the CNN poll, Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say society hasn’t gone far enough—by a 60% to 18% margin. Danny Minaya, a Democrat living in New York, described that gap in moral terms, not polling terms. “The best part about being an American is that we stand up for each other,” Minaya said. “You fight for the little guy. you stand up for the person that’s being shitted on. you stand up for the person that needs their rights protected. Right now, it doesn’t seem like we’re doing that.”.
There are divides within the Democratic coalition. Among Democrats and Democratic leaners. women are 8 points likelier than men to see an issue with offensive speech and 14 points likelier to say that society hasn’t gone far enough in accepting differences on culture. gender identity. and sexual orientations—though majorities among both genders hold those views.
The poll also shows differences by race within the party. Democratic-aligned Whites are 20 points likelier than Democratic-aligned people of color to say that societal acceptance hasn’t gone far enough. and about 24 points likelier to say that a return to 1950s gender roles would make the country worse. It also notes there are similar divides between college graduates and those without degrees.
Underneath the campaign ads. the poll traces a deeper rhetorical shift beginning around 2019. when Democrats moved to the left in their rhetoric and positions. The poll says that shift happened as a crowded field competed for the Democratic nomination to challenge President Donald Trump in the next year’s election.
That period of changing positions has become ammunition on the other side. One of the candidates then was California Sen. Kamala Harris. In 2019. she said in a questionnaire for a civil rights group that she supported gender transition surgeries for detained immigrants and federal prisoners. When Harris emerged as the Democratic presidential nominee five years later. Trump’s campaign seized on the questionnaire answer in ads that declared. “Kamala is for they/them. President Trump is for you.”.
Jackie Frank. a lifelong Democrat living in Florida. credits those types of attacks for helping Trump win the presidency. and for giving Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis the win in her state. “I grew up in a time when there was a flip in the switch about being very careful about how you address people and the things that you said. and then the pendulum swung to ‘woke’ being a bad word” Frank said.
The culture war debate doesn’t stop at what people accept—it extends to how Americans view their own identities.
Most men and White Americans reject the idea that they’ve seen advantages in their lives from being born into those demographics. But few feel as though they’ve been the targets of discrimination themselves. Just 8% of White Americans say their race has been a disadvantage in their lives. and only 1 in 10 men say their gender has been a disadvantage.
White Americans who align with the Democratic Party tell a different story: 72% say their race has been an advantage in their lives. compared with 24% among those aligned with the GOP. Democratic-aligned people of color are likelier than those aligned with the GOP to say their race has been a disadvantage: 51% to 30%.
A similar pattern shows up on gender. The poll says 49% of Democratic-aligned men, compared with 22% of Republican-aligned men, say their gender has been an advantage in life. It also finds that 48% of Democratic-aligned women, compared with 23% of Republican-aligned women, feel their gender has been a disadvantage.
In practice. these numbers and anecdotes point to the same political reality: cultural acceptance is no longer peripheral to American voting. It is now treated like a vulnerability to be targeted. a message to be repeated. and a line each side insists has either been crossed too far—or not crossed enough.
culture war Americans divided CNN poll SSRS midterms woke left James Talarico Pamela Evette David Flippo Ken Paxton Kamala Harris gender roles