(USA Features) A stunning new survey found that large numbers of Democrats and Republicans favor seceding from the union into regional enclaves, with the biggest groups in the Deep South.
The survey by Bright Line Watch found that a preference for secession was, in fact, growing among every partisan group, reported.
Conducted in conjunction with YouGov, the survey found that citizen support for their region or state to secede from the rest of the country is greatest in the South” where support was already highest (and has the greatest historical precedence).”
Overall, some 37% of respondents expressed a “willingness to secede.”
Republicans, Democrats, and Independents all dominated one or more of five regions of the country roughly divided into the Pacific Northwest, the West, the “Heartland,” the South, and the Northeast.
Republican support grew among those living in the South from 50% in January to 66% in June, the highest percentage of GOP supporters in all five regions.
“Republicans are most secessionist in the South and Mountain regions whereas it is Democrats on the West Coast and in the Northeast,” the group noted. “In the narrowly divided Heartland region, it is partisan independents who find the idea most attractive.”
“By this summer, we anticipated, political tempers may have cooled — not necessarily as a result of any great reconciliation but perhaps from sheer exhaustion after the relentless drama of Trump,” the organization wrote in an analysis of the survey’s findings.
Respondents were asked, “Would you support or oppose [your state] seceding from the United States to join a new union with [list of states in new union]?”
“As the country turns 245 years old, Americans have reasons to worry about the state of their democracy,” Bright Line Watch noted.
“In June 2021, we surveyed a representative sample of Americans and an expert sample of political scientists on the performance of U.S. democracy, the threats it faces, and how their political representatives should address these matters,” the group added in a summary.
“We find deep partisan polarization in perceptions of what is right and wrong with American democracy and the steps that should be taken to fix it,” the group added.
“In addition, experts express reservations about current changes to election law at the state level. Still, we find some signs that Americans regard partisan attacks on election administration with skepticism.”
The group’s findings appear to indicate that there isn’t going to be much change of heart in the near future in terms of how partisan Democrats and Republicans have become.
“In the past six months, Democrats and Republicans have not budged in how they reward or punish prospective candidates for voting to certify the election and for Trump’s impeachment,” the assessment noted.
Overall, instead of support for “secession diminishing over the past six months, as we expected, it rose in every region and among nearly every partisan group,” the assessment noted.
Interesting, the group said, experts “broadly regarded Trump’s presidency as a threat to democracy,” but the desire for secession has rising dramatically among all political groups since President Joe Biden took office.