More local officials than ever say political polarization is harming the nation, survey finds

More local officials than ever say in a new survey that political polarization is having a negative impact nationally, with those in larger communities seeing greater local effects — findings that coincided with a surge in political violence and Washington gridlock

More local officials than ever say in a new survey that political polarization is having a negative impact nationally, with those in larger communities seeing greater local effects — findings that coincided with a surge in political violence and Washington gridlock.

Nearly 9 in 10 respondents of the survey of about 1,400 city and county leaders, which was conducted in September by the nonprofit CivicPulse, said they believe political polarization is negatively affecting the nation. That's an uptick from a earlier survey on the subject by the nonpartisan research organization during the first months of President Donald Trump’s second administration, which found 83% of local government officials held that view.

Just 30% of respondents to the latest survey, however, said polarization is harming their local communities, a result similar to CivicPulse’s previous findings, which suggests community life remains resilient to the national discord, according to the results shared exclusively with NBC News.

The latest survey, commissioned by the nonprofit Carnegie Corporation of New York, is the third and final installment in CivicPulse’s impact of polarization study that began the August before the 2024 presidential election. As in the organization’s previous two surveys, the perception that political polarization is harmful to local communities rose with population size, with officials in communities of more than 50,000 people more likely to report a “great deal” of negative effects (41%) compared to leaders in smaller communities (28%).

That’s due in part to elections in larger cities and counties taking on more of a national tone, with increased campaign spending and attention from state and national political groups, the survey noted.