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-: That was dumb. Hey, hey.
-: We live in a time when physical fights break out
over face masks.
-: Hey, stop. Get off of me.
Get off me. Get off me.
-: And at a rally Americans question
whether the Coronavirus pandemic is real.
-: And COVID-19 is a hoax!
-: University of Nebraska-Lincoln political scientist
Kevin Smith says the climate is as extreme as it gets.
-: I don't think anyone could have forecast an event
where effectively a virus becomes politicized.
You know, your position on wearing a face mask,
or opening up the economy,
or your position on,
you know, the information that we're getting from the CDC.
Should we follow it or not?
In other words fundamental public health questions
have taken on this really, really political
and partisan tinge.
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-: This is "Faculty 101"
Five Things about political polarization
and how we got here.
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With a presidential election looming,
voters are feeling the stress.
Kevin Smith's research delves
into the connection between biology and political leanings
and the impact of polarization on our health.
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Number one, why is the country so divided?
Smith's research suggests biology influences
our political behavior and attitudes,
but the environment also plays a role.
-: Genetics is not destiny.
Genetics help predispose you
to react certain ways
to whatever stimuli you find in your environment.
Basically what it does is,
it nudges the probabilities one way or the other
to how you'll react
to a message or a stimulus in your environment.
And if you're in an environment
where a lot of the stimuli
and a lot of the messages
are playing on people's innate predispositions
to move in polarized directions.
You know what?
You're gonna end up with a polarized society,
and I think that's exactly where we are right now.
You know, it's not just the politicians.
We have the rise of social media.
We have the collapse of traditional gatekeepers.
You know, people can live in their own echo chambers.
We essentially live in an environment where
if you have a predisposition
to move strong one way
on a political issue, I mean,
this is an environment that is
like tailor made for that.
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-: Number two, political polarization
has physical and emotional consequences.
During the last presidential election,
Smith surveyed Americans using a questionnaire
based on the instruments
for diagnosing alcohol and gambling addiction.
-: And what we found out that is rather astonishing,
numbers of American adults say politics
is negatively affecting their social,
psychological, emotional, and even physical health.
So roughly a fifth of Americans, for example,
say that they have lost sleep because of politics.
You know, roughly similar numbers say
that they get depressed
if their candidate loses.
Roughly 15% say
that I spend too much time on social media
paying attention to politics,
and I know it's bad for me,
but I can't stop.
5% of Americans say
that they have considered suicide
because of politics.
And that's, you know,
we had a survey of about eight or 900,
so 5%, you have to take
with a little bit of a grain of salt.
But if our data is even in the ballpark,
you're talking about an astonishing number
of people who are considering doing themselves harm
because of stuff they read in the news about politics,
and I find that kind of concerning.
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-: Number three.
Smith is following up on that survey
during this election cycle
to see what, if anything, has changed.
He says the political landscape
of 2020 also opens the way
for research to answer new questions.
-: I think 2020 is the year that
is going to launch a thousand dissertations,
that's for sure.
Because I mean, there are institutional questions.
I mean, we've really gotten a stress test.
There's questions about communication and public opinion,
social media's role, and there are also
really interesting psychological questions.
I mean, how does this environment,
you know, running an election in a global pandemic
affect people's psychology
from a political point of view?
I mean, this is really a unique opportunity.
I mean, do people's political attitudes become crystallized?
Do they become more extreme, you know,
if you're a pro or anti immigration,
do you move further away
on those extremes because of what's what's going on?
If you're feeling more threatened
because of the pandemic,
you know, just your health is feeling threatened.
Does that filter through
into your political attitudes and behaviors any way?
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-: Number four.
Smith is concerned
about how political polarization
will affect basic American principles.
-: What happens if people lose faith
in the democratic process,
that elections are reasonably fair?
You know, the President of the United States
is raising these questions.
So it's incumbent upon us
to sort of like follow up
on those questions a little bit.
So in that case, yes, it is offering unique opportunities.
You know, some of the basic questions
that we ask though, why do people vote?
Why do people have the attitudes that they do?
Why do they seek out some information and not others?
Why are they engaging in politics
or not engaging in politics?
Those questions are sort of like perennial questions,
but it's a really, really new environment,
in which to explore answers to those questions.
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-: And number five,
when it comes to voting Smith says
try to set emotions aside.
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-: Well, I'm not going to say
go vote Republican or go vote Democrat.
That's not my job.
That's not my role.
I think the bottom line is what
I would urge voters to do,
is think and not just react emotionally
to what's going on,
regardless of which side of the political spectrum
that you're on.
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-: That's "Faculty 101",
Five Things with Kevin Smith.
"Faculty 101" is produced
by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
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