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Well Said: Understanding the political divide

On this week's podcast, Carolina professors Jonathan Weiler and Marc Hetherington discuss their new book on the political divide.

A graphic of the Old Well with

In 2009, political science professor Jonathan Weiler and global studies associate professor Marc Hetherington released their research on the relationship between four questions and the growing political divide.

Those relationships continue to have implications in the political climate today.

Weiler and Hetherington became interested in the acrimonious nature of politics as they watched the unfolding of the 2000 presidential election. They agreed that the political divide was intensifying, and as they investigated further, they discovered what appears to be a correlation between our intrinsic values and our passion for politics.

“At some point, we stumbled on these four parenting questions,” Weiler said. “Those four parenting questions don’t really tell you anything about how people feel about taxes, but they tell you a lot about how people feel about race, gay rights, gender, family structure [or] immigration.”

On this episode of Well Said, Weiler and Hetherington discuss the findings from their initial study, as well as their new book, “Prius or Pickup?”

Read a transcript of the episode.

Listen to the episode on SoundCloudor wherever you listen to podcasts.

Join us every Wednesday for Well Said to hear from students, faculty, staff and alumni. Each week, you’ll learn what’s going on in classrooms, labs and around campus, and how it pertains to the local, national and international headlines.