As Americans have been in lock down for what seems like years, we are gradually getting back to normal and trying to live our lives.  But a new study shows that there are snitches out there, ready to report you for perceived infractions.

Here are the details, according to Just the News, a new polling service by Scott Rasmussen:

Just 36% of voters overall say they would report their neighbors to police for having a social gathering of 15 to 20 people, in violation of stay-at-home rules. Forty-three percent (43%) would not.

During its White House Coronavirus Task Force briefings, officials have encouraged Americans to limit social gatherings to under 10 people, with the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention stating in its coronavirus guidelines that, “At a substantial level of community transmission, it is recommended to cancel mass gatherings of any size.”

Suburban and urban voters are evenly divided on the Just the News Daily Poll question. However, by a 53% to 28% margin, rural voters would not report their neighbors.

“This is consistent with a tremendous amount of data I’m seeing highlighting the differences between suburban, urban, and rural voters,” Rasmussen said.

“There is also a gender gap,” he also noted. “Women are evenly divided. However, by a 51% to 32% margin, men would not report their neighbors to the police.”

Respondents were asked “Suppose that, in violation of stay-at-home rules, your neighbor had 15-20 people at their home. Would you report them to the police?” They replied as below:

  • 36% Yes
  • 43% No
  • 21% Not Sure

This reminds me of this hilarious thing that I saw on Twitter, of a boat owner who had a Trump flag on his boat.  When a neighbor called the association to complain, he got his whole boat WRAPPED in Trump advertisements, then slowly trolled by his neighbor’s house playing the national anthem:

Anyone else sick of nosy neighbors?

I, for one, find this poll dispiriting.

Thirty-six percent of Americans would snitch on their neighbors.  Note the partisan divide in this situation.  Republicans are likely to favor reopening and believe the worst is behind us, and Democrats aren’t.  This says less about partisanship in my opinion than about different sources of media.  

It’s interesting to note that back during the American Revolution — though we don’t have real polling — estimates are that roughly 30% supported the British (Tories).  The more things change, the more they stay the same.  This divide in society always exists.  I wouldn’t report on my neighbors for such a thing, but some would. Some always would have.

The more things change, the more things stay the same.  

This is fairly true on every issue.

Image Credit: Twitter

About The Author

Mark was a co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots, and served as the national coordinator. He left the organization to work more broadly on expanding the self-governance movement beyond the partisan divide. Mark appears regularly on television in outlets as diverse as MSNBC, ABC, NBC, Fox News, CNN, Bloomberg, Fox Business and the BBC. He’s highly sought after for the tea party perspective from print and electronic media outlets, from the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, L.A. Times, Washington Examiner, Politico and the The Hill. Mark blogs at MarkMeckler.com, and his opinion editorials regularly run in many of the leading political newspapers both on and offline. Mark has a BA in English from San Diego State University and graduated with honors from University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law in 1988. He practiced real estate and business law for almost a decade. For the last eleven years of his legal career he specialized in Internet advertising law. When not fighting for the future of our nation, Mark is an avid horseman, and lives in rural northern California with his wife Patty and two children.

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