Across America and into D.C., people are fed up with partisanship

By Mike Byhoff
Mon Nov 1, 3:26 pm ET

Spending time in the nation's capital so close to Election Day, I noticed many people have grown tired of divisive partisan politics in America. It's a theme that's run through my six-week cross-country road trip with the Yahoo! News Ask America van. Many Americans feel that politicians are spending too much time and effort fighting, and it's counter-intuitive to moving the country forward.

"We need to be able to sit across the table and compromise," said Sandra Lerner, 49, who traveled from Detroit to Washington, D.C., to attend the "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear," hosted by Comedy Central comedians Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert on Saturday. "If we can't be civil and listen to each other, our nation won't be able to continue like it has for the past 200 years."

Sherry Fackler-Berkowitz, 58, feels that extreme partisan rhetoric between politicians has trickled down to the American public.

"It really upsets me to see the hate and anger in the people around us," she said. "To allow politics to divide our country isn't just a bad sign for our political system, but for our society in general."

But if partisanship is a problem, which party is to blame? More than 75,000 responses have come in on that question on Ask America, our informal polling forum, and a clear majority — 60 percent — blamed the Democrats.

"Dems went [too] far too fast and then started FORCING things when we were screaming NO!" Yahoo! user Gator commented.

Click image to see photos from the rally


Reuters/Jim Bourg
Many commenters disagreed and blamed Republicans, but others had a different take.

"Actually, I hold both parties responsible," user Moon-dog wrote.

With so much partisan bickering and Republicans poised to make gains on Tuesday, Ask America voters also think we're headed for gridlock after the next Congress is seated in January. Only 17 percent of responses to a question asking whether the parties can work together say they can.


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Back on the streets of D.C., many people see another source of our divisive political tone: the media.

Joe Coppola, 62, drove from Des Moines, Iowa to attend "Restore Sanity" with his wife, Cyndi. He believes America will never be able to unite as long as cable news exists.

"If reasonable, moderate opinions start attracting ratings and advertisers, then I think we might start listening to each other again," he said. "But until that happens, I see no end in sight."

Keep up with Ask America: Follow our "video ninja" on the Ask America blog and on Twitter: http://twitter.com/askamericavan .

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