Doc Hoff’s #BlogBlogProject | “Romping Around in Biden’s Background: Delaware and Polarization” by Stephen Ranck
As a professor of political communication, I’ve been sharing blogs written by my University of Delaware students for the last decade. This blog was written by Stephen Ranck, a senior double-majoring in Political Science and History with a minor Political Communication. He wrote this blog for my National Agenda class this fall, examining “the Delaware Way” as he canvassed for a local campaign leading up to the 2022 elections.
Delaware, for all of its faults, is a pretty cool state. In the fall of 2022, I was working on a local race in northern Delaware, in which my candidate was challenging an incumbent. So I’ve gotten to know the area, the politicians, and the people well. In such a small state, almost everyone seems to know each other; most people have a Biden story, for example, whether it be good or bad. Delawareans are kind, too. Compared to when I would door-knock at home, very few people in Delaware are rude, and I only had some people bite my head off for daring to approach their homes (political campaigning is not soliciting, as a professional tip). Even people from the other party were happy to see a young person take charge in politics. Based on the positive feedback, and the general enthusiasm voters had for my candidate, I thought we’d win.
We did not. The challenger lost. Most challengers in Delaware lost, and the House and Senate largely remained the same.
Despite how nice most people are, the thing that struck me the most while campaigning was polarization. There was one time where I had the door slammed on me, only for the guy to open it back up again and ask if I was on his side (I was). Some of my friends have had people rip up their pamphlets and then start cackling. Another time I had this high school kid curse me out because he thought I left a campaign flier at his house. Even if you paint yourself as a moderate, which my candidate did (and he truly was), you’ll be painted as a dangerous Trump supporter or an extreme socialist; either that, or you’ll be accused of not being Democrat enough, or being a RINO (Republican in Name Only). Polarization isn’t just a Delaware problem, though; it’s a national issue. Jonathan Haidt agrees; Pearce Godwin agrees; most Americans agree.
As a result, polarization is rusting the gears of our democracy, causing both our civic life and our government to decay.
What is to be done? The experts can answer that question much better than I can. What I do know, however, is that even though Delaware is polarized, it’s changing for the better. Civil discourse is going up; or at the very least, Delawareans seem to want to be civil. For all of the bad interactions I’ve had, there have been double the amount of great ones. Voters want to learn more. I’ve had half-hour conversations with people asking what my candidate stands for, while I’ve had equally long conversations with people addressing their issues and concerns with the current state of Delaware.
One of the biggest concerns I heard about was a return to civility. Voters don’t want another Trump; they don’t want name-calling and derision. What they want is for people to get along with one another and make the government work. That they tell all of this to me, a random college student, shows — I think — that voters are willing to engage in civil discourse while still holding to their values.
This might be something unique to Delaware. Politics in Delaware aren’t known, or at least weren’t known, for hatred and division. There’s even something called “The Delaware Way” that describes general civility and even-temperedness in state politics. When everybody in the state knows each other, it’s a lot harder to hate your neighbor. You could be best friends with Joe Biden and still be a Republican (as one top-level Republican I know is; Biden even attended his kids’ weddings). Look at Delaware’s past politicians, who seemed to get along with everybody. The biggest Republicans here were sort of liberal, like Mike Castle, while the biggest Democrats were fairly moderate, like Joe Biden. Delaware is perhaps unique, in that sense, where civility and moderation are virtues.
This isn’t to say Delawareans are acting as role models upon their words or their history. I’ve already mentioned the bad responses I’ve gotten, and for all I know, the same people preaching civility could be the ones sending out death threats to candidates. It’s also worth noting that I only covered a small, primarily white, ritzy part of Delaware; I’m sure voters with a lot more at stake might be a little less civil when it comes to politics. Regardless, I think Delaware’s political environment is something to be emulated — not the moderate part, although that would be nice too — but the civility aspect. When we can go back to conversing with one another, acting as though we truly are neighbors, our political polarization problem can change for the better; and with that, the vitriol and stagnancy of our current political situation can go by the wayside.
Even if my anecdotes are a small fraction of American voters, take it as good news. Where Delaware leads, the rest of America can follow.
This blog was written by Stephen Ranck, a senior double-majoring in Political Science and History, for my University of Delaware National Agenda class this fall, 2022.
