HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — It’s been two years since the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. People on both sides of the aisle are weighing in on the political divide still seen in the country today.
Jordi Zapata called the day unforgettable.
“Something that you learn in the history books, but that was unfolding like right before our eyes,” said Zapata, who’s with the Hillsborough County Young Democrats.
For some, January 6th highlighted the country’s growing political divide, which is seen even still today.
When asked if it’s getting better or worse, Zapata said he thinks Florida is different than some other states.
“We don’t really like to see either side in this divisiveness,” said Zapata. “It drives a wedge between us and our neighbors, and it’s not productive. We’re about results here.”
“I think that the conservatives, Republicans in this country are way past January 6th. I think the American people are way past January 6th,” said Jake Hoffman, the Executive Director of the Tampa Bay Young Republicans. “You go and ask anybody on the street, give me your top ten issues of today. It’s not going to be on anybody’s top ten.”
Hoffman thinks we’re still very divided in the country but that there are plenty of places to find common ground.
“I’ve always said that if you have people sit down at a table and try and work out issues, even from all walks of life and different places, a lot of times they can find solutions to major issues within a few hours, to be honest,” said Hoffman. “It’s not going to be every topic.”
ABC Action News political analyst Susan MacManus said the country clearly has become more divided politically, explaining a lot of that is attributed to social media. She also pointed out how what we see is really consequential.
“Florida is the premiere example, is the large number of younger people who are turning their backs on both parties and saying I don’t like either one of them; they haven’t done anything for me, and consequently, we now have a continued deterioration of people’s confidence in our governing institutions,” said MacManus.
MacManus said the good news, however, is that people are aware of the problem and that it’s a problem that cannot go unattended.
“Secondly, I would say, this last election cycle when so many people predicted the demise of democracy, we had a pretty smoothly-running election cycle all across the states, regardless of their politics and how divided they were,” said MacManus. “So, we see signs of awareness. That’s always a good step towards repair, and we’ve also seen some examples of unintended consequences that went in a positive direction: a good election cycle.”
