A quarter of Americans say they’ve avoided a work colleague due to differing political views
What might data from scientific surveys reveal about how partisan divides are shaping our workplaces? That’s among the questions that the Polarization Research Lab out of Dartmouth College regularly aims to figure out and is a focus of our ongoing series “Office Politics.”
Data from this year show that 25% of Americans say they’ve avoided a work colleague due to differing political views. A worrisome percentage also say they’ve avoided getting help because of a colleague’s positions on general issues.
To discuss these findings and more, “Marketplace Morning Report” host David Brancaccio was joined by Sean Westwood, director of the Polarization Research Lab. The following is an edited transcript of their conversation.
David Brancaccio: Before we get to chewing on some survey numbers from you, give us a quick sense of, what is the Polarization Lab and what does it do?
Sean Westwood: So it’s our goal to try to understand how and why partisanship divides America and what, if anything, we can do about it. Each week, we survey 1,000 Americans, asking about their views on partisanship, their views on democratic norms, their views on partisan violence and how political trust is evolving.
Brancaccio: That’s interesting. Views on partisan violence, you said. That’s an important indicator?
Westwood: It’s something that’s really in the public consciousness. I think there are many who are worried that we’re on the cusp of a civil war, but our data shows that really only about 1% or 2% of Americans support partisan violence. So while it’s certainly concerning and certainly a problem, our data show that it’s not the case that we’re facing true open conflict or even systematic acts of violence motivated by partisanship.
Brancaccio: And to be clear, you find that low percentage, but still it exists on both ends of the political spectrum?
Westwood: It exists on both ends of the political spectrum; it’s about the same in both parties. And what’s really important is that these are individuals who would be violent for any reason. It’s not that we’re turning average Americans against one another just because of partisanship. These are people who would punch someone in a bar, but they’re now just willing to do that because of partisanship.
Brancaccio: Now we’re especially interested here in employees with strong political feelings on one side or the other in the workplace — polarization in the workplace. What do you know?
Westwood: It’s our view that partisanship shouldn’t decide who we hire and who we work with, but nonetheless, it’s happening across America. Our data show that one in 10 Americans has avoided asking for help at work because of the partisanship of the person they might ask. And one in four has not talked to someone at work because of partisanship. It’s creating distance in the workplace and making the workplace less efficient.
Brancaccio: That’s a lot of friction in the workplace. Is it widespread? Is it occasionally? What are you finding?
Westwood: So we find that it’s pretty consistent across individuals and across places of employment. There doesn’t really appear to be safe harbors in the way that we might want or desire.
Brancaccio: I mean, that would be concerning, right? I mean, certainly if you’re running a company. On the other hand, companies are under pressure — often from stakeholders, often employees — to take a stand on crucial issues that are deeply felt by the employees or the customers.
Westwood: Absolutely. Although it’s important to recognize that employees have political preferences and that they feel that the company should engage on those political preferences, that might not necessarily be the answer. A simpler and more effective approach to reducing political tension at work might be to make work a place that’s just for work. Politics does not need to be ever-present in our lives. If I were to give advice to employers, I would say, “Set norms of respectful disengagement from politics in the workplace.”
Brancaccio: You mean, you think that really works? Some companies have tried, and then it forced other controversial issues to the surface. You know, people felt very strongly about a big public policy issue or the way the company was run, and it led to more rancor. You know, you do see cases of that.
Westwood: It might seem radical to remove politics from the workplace, and there are undoubtedly going to be employees who will push back or quit, but I think the real worry is that if we don’t act now, political tensions will get worse and it will be much harder to fix the problem in the future. So it’s going to be difficult to try and restructure the role of politics in the workplace. But if we don’t do something now, I really worry that we’re headed for a much darker future.