Americans Still United by Core Values

In a recent survey, researchers at the University of Michigan showed that, while many Americans remain united on some core values, they are still very much divided on some sensitive issues.

These include immigration laws, religious beliefs, gay marriages, stem cells research and universal healthcare, among other thorny issue of this nature.

The study sample of 500 Americans that were selected for this investigation is representative for the entire nation, the experts behind the new survey say.

The participants were surveyed three times in the past 14 months, by scientists at the UM Institute for Social Research. Funding for the work came from the ISR and the Carnegie Foundation.

The three surveys were conducted in June and December of 2009, and in March 2010 respectively. They were carried out as part of the monthly UM/Thomson Reuters Surveys of Consumers.

“More than 90 percent of those surveyed agreed that all people deserve equal opportunities in life,” says the principal investigator of the new work, UM sociologist Wayne Baker.

“Just about everyone also agreed that respect for people from different racial and ethnic groups, and for people of different faiths, is also important to them,” the expert adds.

The documents also revealed that most Americans still share a firm belief in freedom, even if scientists showed that the concept had different meanings for most people.

Participants in the survey were asked to eat how much they agreed with statements such as “Freedom is being left alone to do what I want” and “Freedom is being able to express unpopular ideas without fearing for my safety.”

The researchers showed that 9 in 10 Americans felt that expressing unpopular ideas without fear of harm was most important to them. About 33 percent said that freedom means being left alone to do whatever they wanted.

“There was no difference between liberals and conservatives. The vast majority on both sides agreed,” explains Baker. The expert keeps a blog here.

It was additionally discovered that, for 66 percent of US citizens, “providing health care to everyone would be a sign that people in this country value other people's lives.”

The poor agreed with this statement almost unanimously, whereas the rich naturally did not.