(Image: Mitchell Squire/Private Media)

Love them or hate them, everyone has an opinion about Americans.

Some see them as optimistic, driven and generous. There are those who consider them arrogant, ignorant, and selfish. These perspectives are drawn from the saturation of American news, business and culture in the daily lives of the world’s population. They are punctuated by an emphasis on American politics that seemingly highlights vast differences between the United States and other developed nations.

The election of Donald Trump was a signature inflection point that underscored this. Many foreigners could scarcely believe that Americans would elevate such a man to the Oval Office; others were not in the least surprised. To them it confirmed their instincts about Americans: that Trump, with his manifest character flaws, was their avatar. Trump’s supporters revelled in their scorn.

From a distance America is often portrayed as a dystopian society with an obsession for guns, greed and God. Healthcare is inaccessible and ruinously expensive. Education is subpar, inequality rampant, and workers’ rights are atrocious. Australians, Canadians and Europeans, each with greater government investment in serving public needs, express bewilderment that Americans would tolerate such conditions. American attitudes appear alien to them. 

This characterisation misses fundamental facts. First, Trump did not receive a majority of votes cast in either of his presidential campaigns. He narrowly won the first time thanks to an archaic electoral system that tipped the scales his way. Moreover his approval rating during his presidency never exceeded 50%, a first in presidential history. Trump, and what he represented, was opposed by a majority of Americans throughout his tenure.

Second, most Americans support similar government policies that citizens in other advanced nations enjoy. Americans would welcome greater investment in such programs, and the higher taxes required to pay for them.

Healthcare

Anyone who has spent time in America is familiar with the byzantine nature of its medical system and the potential for bankruptcy from any medical misfortune.

The United States spends 17% of GDP every year on healthcare, versus the typical range of 8-12% in similar OECD nations. Despite the extra investment, health outcomes in America are worse on a range of measures. Next to comparable countries, America ranks last on life expectancy, last on premature deaths, worst on disease burden, and worst on maternal mortality. If America spent the same amount per capita as the second-most expensive nation, Germany, it would save 5% of GDP per year. That’s more than $1 trillion annually. Yet Germany still outranks the US on public health performance.

Why won’t Americans implement a national health insurance program funded by government? They would if they could. Medicare, introduced in 1965 for senior citizens, does exactly this. It also serves people with disabilities. Medicaid is a parallel program targeting low-income Americans. Nearly two-thirds of Americans want a national government system to provide healthcare. Richard Nixon attempted to achieve this during his presidency; Bill Clinton also tried. Both men failed. Barack Obama settled for the more modest goal of expanding existing access to insurance schemes via federal subsidies and mandates. He extended coverage to 20 million Americans, but even that ignited a decade-long fight.

Gun control

More than 300 people are shot every day in America. One third of them die, with around two-thirds of that number being suicides. Every school child is taught active shooter drills. By any measure, gun violence is an epidemic in the United States. Why won’t Americans clamp down on firearms?

Again, the majority wants to. Despite the impression that Americans are all gun-toting vigilantes, six in 10 American adults live in households without firearms. Fifty percent of guns are owned by just 3% of the population. Strong majorities favour banning people with mental illness from purchasing guns, expanding background checks for gun sales, creating a federal ownership registry, and limiting assault-style weapons and ammunition magazines. 

Inequality

The divide between the haves and have-nots has been growing in America for half a century. The tech revolution has minted billionaires many times over, while workers endure poverty wages. Forty percent of Americans have less than $400 available for emergency expenses. Their vulnerability was exposed acutely during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Why do Americans accept this entrenched inequality? They don’t — 61% of them want government policies and intervention to reverse the trend. Clear majorities support skills training programs, higher taxes on the wealthy, and free public college tuition to help redress the imbalance. Majorities also believe racial discrimination contributes to economic disadvantage in America.

Climate change

The United States has emitted more greenhouse gases in its history than any other country, and remains the world’s leading polluter on a per capita basis. As this year’s Nobel Prize in Physics confirmed, the impacts of greenhouse gases on global warming and climate change are irrefutable. The effects are already being felt, and without concrete action to limit future emissions, the consequences for our environment and the world economy will be profound.

Despite this evidence the Trump administration did the opposite of concrete action. It withdrew the United States from the Paris Climate Accord, scrubbed any reference to climate change within federal government agencies and scrapped regulations designed to curb fossil fuel consumption. Why would Americans endorse this?

They didn’t. Americans overwhelmingly approve of government initiatives to tackle climate change. They strongly back carbon taxes and credits, massive reforestation projects, restrictions on power plants and stricter fuel efficiency standards. Seventy nine percent believe the US should prioritise alternative energy sources. Americans want the federal government to do more to protect the environment and address climate change.

More progressive than you think

On closer inspection, the preferences and priorities of Americans contradict the impressions of many observers. Far from being hostile to proactive government, Americans want what other rich nations have — universal healthcare, quality affordable education, and well-paying jobs. Market capitalism with sensible rules to provide fair competition and limit harm. A level playing field for everyone to pursue their dreams.

Mainstream Americans are more progressive than conventional wisdom would have us believe. This fact lies at the heart of the existential struggle being waged in Washington right now. While most of the US media has missed this altogether, and remains fixated on reporting politics as a nonstop horse race rather than investigating policy substance.

The media falsely portrays “moderates” as neutral arbiters who share the middle ground with middle America while fending off partisan extremists on both sides. It has fallen for the right-wing framing of “progressive” as an insult, and parrot it without proper analysis. It’s the so-called moderates who are out of step with regular Americans.

President Joe Biden gets it. His Build Back Better agenda is laser-focused on delivering progress for Americans across all these issues. His plans have broad bipartisan support from voters, with 62% approval. Individual components receive 59% to 81% backing. Seventeen Nobel Prize-winning economists also hail his ambitions.

Republican Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell and his colleagues understand it too. That’s why they are fighting tooth and nail to derail Biden’s plans — they know their positions are opposed by a majority of Americans. If Biden succeeds and shows Americans what their government can actually do for them, it will break the spell that Republican politicians have been casting for decades.

Next: the political, institutional and corporate forces that have prevented Americans from having the government they actually want.