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What is the most contentious issue in American politics?

What political issue is the most contentious?

  • Abortion

    Votes: 18 34.0%

  • Gay marriage

    Votes: 3 5.7%

  • Gun control

    Votes: 2 3.8%

  • Budget/spending

    Votes: 8 15.1%

  • Immigration

    Votes: 5 9.4%

  • Separation of church and state

    Votes: 5 9.4%

  • Taxation

    Votes: 2 3.8%

  • War on drugs

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Death penalty

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Other

    Votes: 10 18.9%
  • Total voters
    53
molten_dragon

molten_dragon

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I'm curious what people think about this. What issue do you believe is the most contentious or divisive, one that the two sides are least likely to come to any sort of agreement or compromise about.
 
molten_dragon said:
I'm curious what people think about this. What issue do you believe is the most contentious or divisive, one that the two sides are least likely to come to any sort of agreement or compromise about.
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Everything. :lamo
But seriously, It would have to be budget spending/taxation and abortion/gay marriage.
 
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Abortion and SSM by far the most divisive.
 
Dovkan said:
Everything. :lamo
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Probably so.
Maybe we should list all the issues that our pols can agree on?
The list would be much shorter.
Hmmm.......insuring their own re-elections is the only issue I can think of.
 
Of the options listed and as of now, immigration. I don't see that any of the others even come close.
 
most contentious.....immigration

most in the news......ssm

most important to our country.....that's the 64k question.....it seems to change with the wind

i would have thought the economy.....but i even wonder about that now

too many problems, and very few solutions.......
 
What should have been added: Increasingly overbearing government.
 
Abortion. It has to be. There is no possible compromise, and no matter what happens by law the issue never goes away.
 
I still think it's abortion. The issue is far more intense than the others and so are the sides. On one side is a religious crusade - again, and the other side is full of political junkies that want to legislate everything. If people just minded their own business about it right from the beginning, I don't think it would be a problem at all.
 
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I say abortion and gun control in dead heat. Both issues are dominated by absolutists who cite the constitution as the sole authority on the issue
 
EMNofSeattle said:
I say abortion and gun control in dead heat. Both issues are dominated by absolutists who cite the constitution as the sole authority on the issue
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Interesting. Do I interpret you to say that both issues are dominated by the right? As they are the ones who habitually trot out the constitution on those issues.
 
Whatever furores may be precipitated by discussion of abortion, gun control and the death penalty, they're perhaps more specific to contemporary American discourse. They lack something of the global impact that the other options entail.
 
Eventually ssm and abortion will not be as big issues due to younger generations taking office. I think government intervention in the economy will be an issue that is never resolved. Supply/demand side economics debate has been going on since the depression.
 
NoC_T said:
Whatever furores may be precipitated by discussion of abortion, gun control and the death penalty, they're perhaps more specific to contemporary American discourse. They lack something of the global impact that the other options entail.
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Edit: One day, I'll start paying attention to thread titles.
 
jet57 said:
Interesting. Do I interpret you to say that both issues are dominated by the right? As they are the ones who habitually trot out the constitution on those issues.
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Not exclusively on guns, many liberals and democrats own guns and support the second amendment although it's undisputed republicans support gun rights more.

On the abortion issue it's mainly liberals supporting abortion rights who trot out the "rights" issue. Usually citing roe or the 9th amendment. Abortion is a more partisan issue because conservatives are uniformly opposed to most abortion, liberals Are uniformly for near unrestricted abortion, and moderates usually fall in the middle

Guns are a more divisive issue by number of camps. But it's not a black and white liberal v conservative issue. Bernie sanders voted against the Brady bill, a Wash state rep named Kevin Van De Wege, a democrat representing some of the most liberal counties in Washington (Jefferson and parts of Grays Harbor) is a staunch gun rights supporter...

So I would say yes to your question for abortion, a qualified "kinda sorta" for guns
 
jet57 said:
I still think it's abortion. The issue is far more intense than the others and so are the sides. On one side is a religious crusade - again, and the other side is full of political junkies that want to legislate everything. If people just minded their own business about it right from the beginning, I don't think it would be a problem at all.
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There is the collective soul of our nation to consider.
 
Economy, I think. Or as the poll states it "Budget/spending".

Everything else is somewhat secondary, and changes with time. But the monetary issue has been ongoing for decades.
 
Abortion rules the poll!!!!!?????

Look at the threads that discuss gay right in any fashion, they run 2-300 pages. They can advance 50 pages in a single day. That's not just on the DP board by the way. Presidential candidates have the balls (because they have sufficient American backing) to take discriminating positions against the LGBT community on the (supposed) merits, that the Christians are being persecuted and forced against their belief structure. But when your belief structure has a bigoted element........! Anyway, people will line up behind and vote for a presidential candidate, sometimes on the singular issue of abortion because a guy is "pro-life", despite the fact that no "pro-life" president since RvW has reduced abortion any.
 
The economy. Which takes in Budget/spending, labor laws, environment, schools and Taxation also.

We need a down and dirty look at the economy and roll-back what is causing all the outsourcing and importing of foreign labor. What laws/regulations are hurting us? We keep seeing that unemployment is supposedly down, but are those real career jobs, people who simply gave up and don't get counted anymore or people taking minimum wage jobs? If the economy "grew" at 3% for a year and we added 5% more people to the workforce and basic needs such as food rose at 6% inflation, is the economy really growing? Maybe to make things look good, the government simply printed out 3% more dollars for the year.
 
Race.

Even the mention of that word causes some people to instantly run for their security blanket. And woe betide the fool who DARES to put the word "privilege" after the word "white"!
 
Most issues boil down to whether government and legislation should enforce morals and customs that derive from religion/tradition in addition to those morals/ethics that are intended to prevent harm and are more accepted universally. That is the underlying issue behind abortion, gay rights, many education issues, sex education, drug laws and many more.
 
Phys251 said:
Race.

Even the mention of that word causes some people to instantly run for their security blanket. And woe betide the fool who DARES to put the word "privilege" after the word "white"!
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Actually, they put it before "white." You want to see people go NUTS on the forum? Suggest that anyone but white people are racists.
 
Elections boil down to people's pocket book.
 
Phys251 said:
Race.

Even the mention of that word causes some people to instantly run for their security blanket. And woe betide the fool who DARES to put the word "privilege" after the word "white"!
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Race is probably secondary after budget/spending.

In some ways, of course, all the issues are interconnected.
 
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