REPORT SUMMARY
This report is part of a series commissioned by the philanthropic foundation Carnegie Corporation of New York. The series benchmarks the impact that polarization is having on local communities over time, identifies local solutions to the challenges of polarization, and investigates scalability of these solutions to other communities.
Based on a January 2025 national survey and interviews of local government leaders—with the new inclusion of school board officials—this report benchmarks how perceptions of polarization in local communities evolved during the change from the Biden to Trump administrations and explores solution areas such as community service, resident engagement, and K-12 civics education.
Media inquiries can be sent to Nathan Lee, Managing Director, at nathanlee@civicpulse.org. Requests for the data associated with this report can be completed through civicpulse.org/data-request. Any other questions can be directed to info@civicpulse.org.