One nation, two realities: dueling facts in American democracy

Is climate change real? Does racism still determine who gets ahead? Is sexuality innate? Do immigration and free trade help or hurt the economy? Does gun control reduce violence? Are false convictions common? On these and many other basic questions of fact, Americans are deeply divided. How did this happen? What does it mean? And is there anything we can do about it? Drawing upon several years of original survey data and experiments, Marietta and Barker reach a number of enlightening and provocative conclusions.

Americans no longer agree on basic questions of fact. Is climate change real? Does racism still determine who gets ahead? Is sexual orientation innate? Do immigration and free trade help or hurt the economy? Does gun control reduce violence? Employing several years of original survey data and experiments, Marietta and Barker reach a number of enlightening and provocative conclusions: dueling fact perceptions are not so much a product of hyper-partisanship or media propaganda as they are of simple value differences and deepening distrust of authorities.