Chicago Tribune (Sunday)

WHO HAS MORE COMPASSION, DEMOCRATS OR REPUBLICAN­S?

- By Meri T. Long

It’s a common refrain of American voters: How can your party be so heartless?

Democrats want to know how Republican­s can support President Donald Trump’s policy of separating babies from refugee families. Republican­s want to know how Democrats can sanction abortion. But does either party really care more about compassion?

In my research into the public’s support for a variety of government policies, I ask questions about how compassion­ate someone is, such as how concerned he or she is about others in need.

These questions are integral to understand­ing how people feel about who in America deserves government support.

Some people are more compassion­ate than others. But that doesn’t break simply along party lines.

I find that Democratic and Republican Party voters are similar, on average, thus busting up the cliche of bleeding-heart liberals and uncaring conservati­ves.

Then there are Trump voters.

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THE WASHINGTON POST

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