Critical Analysis

1. What percent of Americans said, “in a crisis, people will cooperate with each other even if they don’t trust each other.”?

2. What demographic group is the most optimistic about American cooperation?

3. What is the big story this data tells?

4. What is the best explanation of that story?

5. How would you answer the following question: “in a crisis, people will cooperate with each other even if they don’t trust each other.”

6. Explain whether this data is good news.

7. Explain how demographics impact answers to this question.

8. One of the only places there is significant disagreement about whether Americans would cooperate in a crisis is between Whites and minorities. Why do you think that is?

9. The second part of the survey question assumes that people don’t trust each other in America. Do you think that Americans trust each other?

10. How has Donald Trump impacted the level of trust and the amount of cooperation in America?

11. The original question (above) was asked in 2018, before COVID-19. If we were re-asked the question now, explain what portion of American adults would agree that, “in a crisis, people will cooperate with each other even if they don’t trust each other.”

12. Let’s say you were a newly elected president. What are a few steps you could take to increase American cooperation?

Learning Extension

Read the entire cooperation nation Pew Research Center report.

Action Extension

Contact Donald Trump before January 20, 2021 and suggest politely, one thing he could do to increase cooperation in America.

Visual Extension