Blue New Jersey, red rage: The culture war driving talk of breaking up America

Does anyone remember respect? In politics today, it’s rare.

One of the last times I saw class and respect on full display was back in the presidential race between John McCain and Barack Obama. Does anyone recall the statesman-like moment at a McCain town hall when a supporter stood up to bash Obama? She claimed he was Arab and that she could not trust him.

McCain, the class act that he was, corrected her and said, “No ma’am, he’s a decent family man citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues.”

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Imagine that. Not acting like a manchild and making up moronic nicknames to constantly lie about your opponents. Seems like there’s no hope of that now, doesn’t it?

Since the seeds of division were sown beginning in 2016, more Americans contemplated the possibility of another civil war. It’s something that had not seemed thinkable in my lifetime prior to this.

Now comes a YouGov survey of 26,590 Americans.

They were asked if they would support the state in which they live, breaking away from the rest of the country. Yes, actually seceding from the union.

You may be shocked to know that nearly one in five New Jerseyans said yes, they would no longer like New Jersey to be part of the United States. A full 17%.

It’s Democrats more than Republicans feeling this way during Trump’s second term. Overall, in the United States, Democrats were more likely to support secession, 22% to 14%, so it follows that the more blue a state is, the more its people feel this way.

Idaho only had 7% saying secession was a good idea. California, on the other hand, was at 27%, the most in the nation.

Of those New Jerseyans who thought we should secede, 10% said we should form our own nation. Man, that would be one small blink-and-you-miss-it nation, wouldn’t it? We might have to get Gov. Sherrill back in that chopper.

About 22% said we should join other states in forming a new nation, while 14% of us thought Jersey joining Canada was the way to go, 1% said we should join Mexico and 1% said turn the calendar back 250 years and join the U.K.

It’s all rather silly, but the message is clear. We’re divided. And that’s the real enemy.