Commentary By Tom Still

MADISON, Wis. -- A friend who plans to vote for President Bush seemed a bit dismayed when she completed an online political survey that revealed she agreed with John Kerry more than 80 percent of the time. A political litmus test my friend imagined would run Republican red was heavily tinged by Democrat blue.

It could have been a flawed survey, of course, specifically designed to sway undecided voters. But here's another possibility - one that would disappoint the Sean Hannitys, Al Frankens and Bill O'Reillys of the world: Maybe Americans agree with one another much more often than the polarized pundits would have you believe.

The 2004 race for president has seemed, at times, like a shouting match between conservative loyalists for Bush and liberal advocates for Kerry. Political commentators tell us the nation is divided into "blue" and "red" states, judgmental churchgoers and amoral secularists, warmongers and U.N. apologists. And why shouldn't the commentators tell us so - especially since many of them rely on cultural and political conflict for their ratings and livelihoods?

The truth, as often is the case in life, lies somewhere in between. Some political scientists say the nation's basic political differences have been steadily shrinking - not growing - over the past two decades, and that the polarized nation is largely the creation of Washington insiders yelling at each other.

That is the thesis of a recently published book, "Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America," written by three professors from Stanford and Harvard. Their findings indicate that both parties may be overlooking the political center in their zeal to please the right and the left.

"The bulk of the American citizenry is somewhat in the position of the unfortunate citizens in some third-world countries who try to stay out of the crossfire while Maoist guerillas and right-wing death squads shoot at each other," the book asserts. "Reports of a culture war are mostly wishful thinking and useful fundraising strategies on the part of culture-war guerillas, abetted by a media driven by the need to make the dull and everyday appear exciting and unprecedented."

Consider the political mix in some of the most Democrat "blue" states of the 2000 presidential election. Bush fared worst in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York, Hawaii, Connecticut and Maryland, yet all have Republican governors. California, another state that went for Democrat Al Gore in 2000, now has a Republican governor in Arnold Schwarzennegger.

Wisconsin was carried narrowly by Gore in 2000 and has a Democratic governor and two Democratic U.S. senators - but a divided delegation in the House of Representatives and a Legislature firmly controlled by Republicans.

In their book, professors Morris Fiorina, Samuel Abrams and Jeremy Pope present evidence that Americans aren't all that far apart on major issues. Majorities in red and blue America support stricter gun control and the death penalty; they strongly oppose giving blacks preference in hiring while also wanting the government to guarantee that blacks are treated fairly by employers. They don't want to outlaw abortion completely or allow it under all circumstances. The trend over two decades has been greater tolerance toward gays. The biggest current gap is over the war in Iraq, where differences are more likely to fall along party lines.

Despite the harsh rhetoric by some on the right and the left, scholars believe Americans are more aligned today on major issues than they were during past times of turmoil - such as the Civil War, the 1930s and the 1960s. As one political scientist told the New York Times: "When one of society's deepest divisions is over stem cells, that society is pretty unified."

If you're a Bush supporter who agrees with Kerry on some things or a Kerry backer who sees some merit in Bush, you're not alone. Quiet, perhaps, but not alone.

Still is president of the Wisconsin Technology Council. He is the former associate editor of the Wisconsin State Journal in Madison.