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Panel Notes the Impact of Dignity in the Candidates' Exchanges

SALT LAKE CITY, Oct. 4, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- UNITE, the non-profit founded by Tim Shriver to ease the country's political divisions, today released its Dignity Index scores from this week's Vice-Presidential debate between Senator J.D. Vance and Governor Tim Walz.

UNITE's 80-member bipartisan National Citizens Panel registered high levels of bipartisan agreement on the scores and expressed bipartisan support for the dignified tone of the debate.

"The panel's scores and comments show again that even the most partisan Americans can recognize and acknowledge dignity from the other side," said Shriver, co-creator of the Index. "And panelists clearly appreciate how dignity leads to productive, problem-solving debate." 

The panelists noted, in particular, how the candidates' exchange on gun violence opened the way to finding solutions.

The statement from Senator Vance linking mental health to gun violence led 95 percent of the panelists to score it on the dignity side of the scale. One strong conservative noted: "This quote is a clear example of Vance stating his opinion of the problem without any expression of contempt. That is the first step to finding common ground." A strong liberal agreed, writing: "Senator Vance expressed his opinion in an open manner with no expression of contempt. He didn't try to point fingers rather he acknowledged the problem and left an opening for discussion on the topic in the future."

In Governor Walz' statement on gun violence, 99 percent of the panelists scored it on the dignity side. A strong conservative called it, "the epitome of cooperation." A moderate wrote, "Can this become the new normal?" And another voice in the center wrote: "it's extremely refreshing to see two politicians on the opposite sides of the aisle actually converse with each other in a polite manner." 

Tom Rosshirt, co-creator of the Index, noted, "The power of dignity to keep us talking was on vivid display at the end of the debate. We saw the two candidates, joined by their wives, lingering on the stage, enjoying a conversation. That kind of good will is crucial to our political future, and impossible in a climate of contempt." 

SCORES

Panelists score by matching language from the speech passage with descriptions in the Dignity Index scoring guide, which is available here.

1. Tim Walz, speaking about Donald Trump: "Look, our allies understand that Donald Trump is fickle. He will go to whoever has the most flattery or where it makes sense to him."

• • 88% of panelists agree that this was contempt
    
    
  • The most frequently chosen score was a FOUR
    
    
  • The reasons given the most were "will distort or rename an opponent's position to make it sound unappealing" and "dismisses the other side as not really worth talking to."
    
    
  • 87% of panelists scored within -1 of the score of FOUR
    
    
  • The Conservative average score was 3.619, and the Liberal average score was 3.917

2. JD Vance, speaking about Kamala Harris: "We're a country of doers. We're a country of explorers, but we increasingly have a federal administration that makes it harder to develop our resources, makes it harder to build things, and wants to throw people in jail for not doing everything, exactly as Kamala Harris says they have to do."

• • 83% of panelists agree that this was contempt
    
    
  • The most frequently chosen score was a FOUR
    
    
  • The reasons given the most were "will distort or rename an opponent's position to make it sound unappealing" and "We're better than those people. They don't really belong. They don't really share our values."
    
    
  • 72% of panelists scored within -1 of the score of FOUR
    
    
  • The Conservative average score was 3.762, and the Liberal average score was 3.625

3. JD Vance's stance on gun violence: "We have way higher rates of depression, way higher rates of anxiety. We, unfortunately, have a mental health crisis in this country that I really do think that we need to get to the root causes of because I don't think it's the whole reason why we have such a bad gun violence problem. But I do think it's a big piece of it."

• • 95% of panelists agree that this was dignity
    
    
  • The most frequently chosen score was a FIVE
    
    
  • The reasons given the most were "speaks openly, explaining their views, but never with contempt" and "I share my views with no contempt, so they're easier for others to hear"
    
    
  • 86% of panelists scored within -1 the score of FIVE
    
    
  • The Conservative average score was 5.190, and the Liberal average score was 5.333

4. Tim Walz talking about gun violence: "Where the most firearm deaths happen in Minnesota are rural suicides. And we have an epidemic of children getting guns and shooting themselves... But I want to be very careful. This idea of stigmatizing mental health, just because you have a mental health issue, doesn't mean you're violent. And I think what we end up doing is we start looking for a scapegoat. Sometimes, it just is the guns. It's just the guns."

• • 83% of panelists agreed that this was dignity
    
    
  • The most frequently chosen score was a FIVE
    
    
  • The reasons given the most were "speaks openly, explaining their views, but never with contempt" and "I share my views with no contempt, so they're easier for others to hear"
    
    
  • 70% of panelists scored within +1 of the score of FIVE
    
    
  • The Conservative average score was 4.762, and the Liberal average score was 5.125

5. Tim Walz's closing remark on gun control: "I think this is a healthy conversation. I think there's a capacity to find solutions on this that work, protect Second Amendment, protect our children. That's our priority."

• • 99% of panelists agree this was dignity
    
    
  • The most frequently chosen score was a SIX
    
    
  • The reasons given the most were "We talk to the other side, searching for the values and interests we share, and using them as a basis for cooperation." and "We don't let our disagreements keep us from cooperating on the things we agree on."
    
    
  • 89% of panelists scored within +1 or -1 the score of SIX
    
    
  • The Conservative average score was 6.095, and the Liberal average score was 5.875

6. An exchange between JD Vance and Tim Walz:

Tim Walz: "Well, I've enjoyed tonight's debate, and I think there was a lot of commonality here. And I'm sympathetic to misspeaking on things. And I think I might have with the Senator, but…"

JD Vance: "Me too, man."

• 97% of panelists agree this was dignity
  
  
• The most frequently chosen score was a SEVEN
  
  
• The reasons most given were "has a great deal of humility, especially in their ability to be self-critical, admit mistakes, and even consider how they might be contributing to the problem." and "can offer genuine apologies and forgiveness even after painful conflicts."
  
  
• 82% of panelists scored within +1 or -1 the score of a SEVEN
  
  
• The Conservative average score was 6.429, and the Liberal average score was 6.333

7. JD Vance's closing statement: "We are going to shake hands after this debate and after this election. And of course, I hope that we win and I think we're going to win but if Tim Walz is the next vice president, he'll have my prayers, he'll have my best wishes and he'll have my help, whenever he wants it."

• • 100% of panelists agree this was dignity
    
    
  • The most frequently chosen score was a SIX
    
    
  • The reason most given was "We don't let our disagreements keep us from cooperating on the things we agree on." and "finds it deeply satisfying to cooperate with the other side."
    
    
  • 86% of panelists scored it within +1 or -1 of a SIX
    
    
  • The Conservative average score was 6.286, and the Liberal average score was 6.208

Contact: Nicole Tidei

Phone: 203.376.1192

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SOURCE Project UNITE, Inc.