Split Views on America

WHEN they look in the mirror of their own lives, a majority of Americans--black and white, young and middleaged, male and female, working-class and professional--are reasonably content with their present lot and confident that it will improve. When they look out of the window beyond their neighborhoods, they are less pleased with what they see. They worry about rotting cities, lurking muggers, rising prices and polluted water. They are skeptical about the Government's ability to be of much help.

That is one of the central conclusions of a forthcoming book called State of the Nation, produced by Potomac Associates Inc. and edited by William Watts and Lloyd A. Free.* The study that detected a "bifurcated mood of personal progress but national doubt" is based on an exhaustive poll of 1,806 Americans conducted last June by the Gallup organization for Potomac. Gallup asked each subject 87 questions in an attempt to capture people's estimates of their own status as well as society's.

Each person interviewed, for instance, was asked to position himself and the country at large on a ten-rung "ladder of life." It was up to the individual to define the ladder in terms of factors that affect him. With zero representing the worst possible life and ten the best, the personal responses averaged 6.4--well above the middle rung. When asked to look back five years, the interview subjects saw themselves standing at only 5.5. They envisaged a step up to 7.6 five years from now. The same trend was apparent in different income, race and age groups. Blacks and the young, though positioning themselves lower on the ladder at present, were even more optimistic about their personal futures than the general average. The same people saw no such progress for the nation as a whole. They put the U.S. at 5.6 five years ago and at 5.5 today, though they did envisage an improvement to 6.2 by 1977.

In exploring specific points of concern and discontent, the Potomac survey, like others, found that public interest has turned inward in recent years. Inflation, domestic violence, drug addiction and general crime topped the list of worries. Viet Nam was only fifth. Communism as a threat at home or abroad ranked twenty-second. Only 52% favored coming to the defense of America's major European allies should they be attacked by the Soviet Union; just 43% favored an armed defense of Japan if attacked by either Russia or China. A resounding 73% agreed with this statement: "We shouldn't think so much in international terms but [should] concentrate more on our own national problems and building up our strength and prosperity at home."

Exactly where should the emphasis be placed in improving American life? According to the poll, Americans have a definite order of preference in spending public money. Controlling crime should come first, followed by helping the elderly, coping with drugs and addicts and cleansing the water and air. National defense, space exploration and foreign aid came in last in that order (see chart). Americans also have some firm and relatively sophisticated ideas about how money should be spent in particular areas:

CRIME. A thin majority (51%) felt that the nation had lost "some" or "much" ground in combatting crime during the previous twelve months, while another 26% felt the country had stood still. Yet they did not seem to favor simplistic law-and-order solutions. Asked to choose two or three solutions from a variety that included "putting more policemen on the job" and "really cracking down on criminals by giving them longer prison terms to be served under the toughest possible conditions," 61% opted for a moderate approach: "Cleaning up social and economic conditions in our slums and ghettos that tend to breed drug addictions and criminals."

ENVIRONMENT. Americans are apparently now so concerned about pollution that they are willing to make personal sacrifices to fight it. A large majority of 81% said that they would back legislation outlawing throwaway bottles or cans and requiring large-deposit, reusable bottles. In the same vein, one-half of those who use automobiles regularly said they would be willing to pay an extra $50 or more for their next car to cover the cost of installing antipollution devices. Of that group, almost one-third were willing to shell out at least $200. No fewer than 64% wanted to increase the level of spending on water pollution, and 61% wanted to increase spending on air pollution. Those results take on a special significance now that Richard Nixon has decided to embargo more than half of the funds Congress has authorized under the water pollution control bill. Concerned over the environmental effects of continued economic growth, 27% of those surveyed favored legislation against further technical expansion, and 47% favored deliberate steps to limit the population.

CITIES. There was much less desire to meet urban problems with expensive programs; many city dwellers would simply like to live elsewhere. Said Watts and Free: "The American public as a whole does not seem to realize how seriously the cores of our cities have deteriorated in recent years." Far more respondents (42%) thought that "some progress" had been made on urban problems than thought "some ground" had been lost (14%). When asked specifically about housing, 60% thought that they detected some or much improvement--optimism that simply is not borne out by the record. Perhaps as a consequence of this illusion, or perhaps because of disillusionment with ineffective spending in the past, there was no great enthusiasm expressed for more generous urban programs.

RACE AND WELFARE. A clear majority of respondents (63%) believed that the nation had made progress "in handling the problem of black Americans" during the previous year, a belief shared by blacks themselves. Perhaps largely for that reason, "concern" for black Americans ranked second from last among the 19 domestic problems in the Potomac query. Only the issue of mass transportation stirred less concern. The majority was content to maintain at the current level, reduce or end altogether spending to "improve the situation of black Americans." When questioned about welfare in a later survey, respondents indicated that it is not the money they begrudge as much as the free ride. Given a choice between a welfare program of cash payments or a more costly approach in which the Government would train recipients, find them jobs and, where necessary, provide day care for their children, 81% opted for the higher-priced arrangement.

One of the most intriguing findings of all in State of the Nation is that the majority of Americans yearn to escape urban areas not for suburbia, but for the truly open spaces. While only one out of every three Americans now lives in towns, villages or rural areas, more than half in the poll sample said that they would prefer such a setting. That figure is swelled by the ranks of black city dwellers (70%) who want to move out. Conclude the editors: "The figures suggest that if the American people could follow their inclinations, the population of our cities would be cut in half. The proportion of suburbanites would remain the same. The proportion enjoying country life would more than double, from less than two in ten to almost four in ten."

The mechanics of the move are less clear. A majority of city people now belong to the lower-income groups, and affluent suburbanites seem determined to keep them out--white or black. Report Watts and Free: "No set of public issues affecting the status of nonwhite minorities was more complex, controversial and farther from solution in mid-1972 than those determining where low-income families could live and work."

Is the government really much help in solving problems? Running throughout the findings is a sense of dissatisfaction with "our governmental system as a whole." To plumb that feeling deeper, the pollsters asked people how they rated federal, state and local governments in terms of justice, efficiency and responsiveness. The system flunked in all three categories: 57% rated government "only fair" or "poor" on justice, fairness and honesty; 61% gave low marks on efficiency, and 65% were unhappy with governmental responsiveness. A majority of 54% favored "basic change" in the way "our governmental system is now set up." Precisely what kind of change is not certain, though Watts and Free think it drastic. The American people, they conclude, "seem to us to be searching for a new political, social and economic philosophy, one that will infuse them with new purpose."

* Potomac Associates, formed in 1970, is a non-partisan research and analysis organization. Its previous publications included The Limits to Growth. A New Isolationism: Threat or Promise? and US. Health Care: What's Wrong and What's Right. William Watts, 42, a former staff secretary of the National Security Council, is president of Potomac and a specialist in foreign affairs and public policy. Lloyd A. Free, 64, a public opinion expert, is president of the Institute for International Social Research.

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