Presidential election: No. 14 vs. No. 45

Conventional wisdom, witnessed by talking to your next door neighbors, friends and even strangers, reveals contemporary American politics is deeply polarized. Rachel Kleinfeld of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace notes “Some scholars claim that Americans are so polarized they are on the brink of civil war.”

The Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection and ensuing lawsuits prove that a political civil war already exists. The headline of an op-ed in the Washington Post, authored by Francis Wilkinson, a U.S. politics and policy expert, sounds a clarion bell: The only U.S. “Civil War” will be a war on democracy.

These alarms are nothing new. Research by the American Political Science Association (APSA) notes divisiveness started in the U.S. Senate in the mid-1950s and in the House of Representatives around the mid-1970s. The most likely D and R presidential candidates are not liked by 60-70 percent of the voters.

As of January, a Gallup poll noted 43% of voters consider themselves independent and the Republicans and Democrats equally divide the remaining population. Odds are the GOP lemmings will vote for Trump and the Democratic Party conformists will vote for Biden. The independents, who do their research, will determine who will lead America for the next four years.

Social science experts in political science who belong to APSA along with politically-oriented research scholars, participated in a Nov. 15-Dec. 31, 2023 survey. A cursory review of the research, titled “The 2024 Presidential Greatness Project Expert Survey,” was published in the Los Angeles Times (Feb. 18).

Here are the paramount research findings:

• Joe Biden was ranked as America’s 14th greatest president; Donald Trump came in dead last at No. 45.

• Experts in presidential politics who identified themselves as conservative-oriented and Republican, ranked Biden considerably higher than Trump for presidential effectiveness.

• Trump was identified — by far — as the most polarizing president, seven spots higher than Mr. Biden.

• Biden was acknowledged as the sixth most underrated president while Trump came in as the eighth most overrated president.

Research conducted in 2022 by the Siena College Research Institute — revered for their unbiased research and valid findings — ranked Biden as the 19th best president and Trump as — again — No. 45.

Between now and Nov. 5, be independent and do your homework. Choose the candidate who you are convinced will demonstrate accepted norms of presidential leadership, keep America as the leader of the free world, preserve our constitutional rights, promote bipartisanship, respect laws of the land and the judicial system, keep our global trade alliances, support our military, stand up against CRINK (i.e., China, Russia, Iran and North Korea) and maintain America as a democracy.

What would you be most proud of telling your family years from now? That you blindly followed the order of your political party, didn’t vote or was a freethinking, serious voter who determined America’s future?

Steve Corbin is professor emeritus of marketing at the University of Northern Iowa.