Dear Newsletter,
In a moment when Americans are searching for ways to lower the temperature of our public life, new data from our partners at Dignity.Us offers a clear diagnosis and a credible path forward. It strengthens our shared effort to restore dignity in how we engage across differences. And it reinforces why the work of Braver Angels matters now.
The first annual Dignity Barometer, developed by the team at Dignity.Us and conducted by Hart Research, suggests that the challenge facing the country is not simply disagreement. It is how we treat one another when we disagree.
The data are striking. Five in six Americans express concern about polarization. Nearly as many worry about division as they do about the cost of living, placing our civic climate squarely among the nation’s “kitchen table” concerns. More than 70% are dissatisfied with how people treat each other, and nearly three in four report feeling exhausted by the divisions in our society.
But the most revealing finding is what the Barometer calls the “Dignity Gap.” While 94% of Americans agree that every person deserves to be treated with dignity, only 31% believe that we actually treat one another that way in moments of disagreement. In contrast, a majority believes we too often default to contempt.
This gap between what we believe and how we behave reframes the problem. Americans are not divided simply because of differences in values or policy preferences. They are divided because of divisiveness. The habits of contempt have come to characterize too much of our public and private discourse.
Yet within this diagnosis lies a source of hope.
Americans not only recognize the problem; they also understand the solution. The Barometer finds broad agreement that dignity is not just a moral aspiration but a practical tool. Contempt erodes trust and makes problem-solving nearly impossible, while dignity builds trust, improves dialogue, and reduces the likelihood of escalation and even violence.
Encouragingly, nearly three in four Americans believe it is possible to heal our divisions. That number rises to 78% among those who regularly engage with people they disagree with, compared to 64% among those who do not. Engagement across differences does not deepen division. It strengthens the belief that something better is possible.
At the same time, the Barometer makes something else clear: responsibility doesn’t sit only with institutions or leaders. A large majority of Americans recognize that all of us play a role in either fueling contempt or modeling dignity.
That insight brings the challenge closer to home and makes the path forward more tangible.
This is where the work of Braver Angels and our partners at Dignity.Us becomes particularly relevant. Tools like the Dignity Index give us a shared language to recognize contempt, choose dignity, and build the habits that make constructive disagreement possible. Paired with the practice of courageous citizenship—learning to act instead of react and to build together with people who see the world differently—we begin to close the gap between what we believe and how we behave.
The Dignity Gap is not just a measurement problem. It is a practice problem.
Dignity is not agreement. It is the discipline of how we show up when disagreement is real. In a self-governing society like ours, that responsibility sits with each of us.
Choose to act, not react. Stay at the table. Bring conviction, but refuse contempt. Build where values overlap.
That is how we close the gap. And it’s work worth doing together.
Thank you to our incredible partners at Dignity.Us.
— Maury Giles, CEO of Braver Angels & Tami Pyfer, Chief Impact Officer of Dignity.Us
P.S. See more Barometer results at
dignity.us. We encourage you to sign up for the Dignity.Us
weekly newsletter and use
these resources to share the Barometer with others. Let’s spread the word.
Coming Up
💭 Let us know what you think. On May 5th, Braver Angels will host a National Community Debate on a resolution about the future of Red/Blue at the organization. The Braver Angels Debate Team would like your feedback on a set of proposed resolution statements for this debate. Take the poll here.
🔔 Join us in Philadelphia. On America’s 250th Anniversary—and Braver Angels’ 10th Anniversary—we will convene on hallowed ground in Philadelphia to renew the pledge the founders took 250 years ago. Our 2026 National Convention is a call for courageous citizens to deepen their commitment to democratic principles and strengthen their bonds with each other. Join us for inspiring speakers, interactive workshops, stirring debates, and many more exciting programs. Learn more and submit your application to attend through our 2026 National Convention website. For some inspiration on what's to come, check this out.
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A culture of kindness. Join us for a thought-provoking conversation with Doug Teschner and Beth Malow, authors of Beyond the Politics of Contempt, in partnership with Living Room Conversations.
✅ Sign up Author Talk - Doug Teschner and Beth Malow: Beyond the Politics of Contempt
Monday, April 6 at 3 p.m. ET
Our volunteer forum. Are you a BA Debate volunteer? Curious about becoming one? Looking to gain wisdom or to pass on what you've learned? If so, join our monthly Debate Volunteer Forum.
✅ Sign up Debate Volunteer Forum: April 2026
Wednesday, April 8 at 8 p.m. ET
✅ Sign up Debate Volunteer Forum: May 2026
Wednesday, May 13 at 8 p.m. ET
Our next national debate. In this era of heightened polarization, the debate over how to verify votes has become a flashpoint. Should we require a voter ID to vote? Join our debate to discuss.
✅ Sign up National Debate: Voter ID
Thursday, April 9 at 8 p.m. ET
Find shared values. Launched at the BA National Convention in 2024, the Citizens Commission on Immigration aims to help Americans with differing views on immigration find common ground. Learn about what we’ve accomplished so far and bring your questions to our next update.
✅ Sign up Citizens Commission on Immigration Update Call
Tuesday, April 14 at 5 p.m. ET
Start from within. It’s easy to slip into dismissive or stereotypical language about the other side of an issue without realizing it. Join this workshop to learn how to stop doing so.
✅ Sign up Depolarizing Ourselves
Saturday, April 18 at 2 p.m. ET
Great debates. If you want to bring a debate to your BA Alliance, one thing you'll want to put extra time into is your resolution. Learn how to choose the right wording and pose great questions.
✅ Sign up Braver Angels Resolution Development Workshop
Thursday, May 28 at 7 p.m. ET
Belonging. Read CEO Maury Giles’ take on how BA can get our country to a place where skill building, convening, and collaborative action help courageous citizenship become an honored norm.
📖 Read Spotlight: Maury Giles
Charity for all. What happens when we treat civility like a Trojan horse? That’s not a place of healthy skepticism. It’s a broken chain of reasoning. Read more about what we can do about it.
📖 Read When Civility Became the Crime
Depolarizing conversations. Students at the University of Cincinnati discussed how to use skills to center conversations in respect, responsibility, and dignity for every individual.
📖 Read Portman Center, Braver Angels hold third-annual workshop on civil discourse
Beware the F.O.G. At America’s Future Summit, 100 students from 35 Minnesota high schools met in a conference center to learn an increasingly rare skill: how to bridge divides among themselves.
📖 Read From a small Minnesota conference room, grappling with 'wicked problems'
Common ground. Listen to this podcast on how we can talk with, learn about, and relate to people with very different ideas, beliefs, and views from ourselves in ways that reduce our stress levels.
🎧 Listen to Braver Angels Connect in Healthy Ways Across Divides with CEO Maury Giles
When we disagree. Listen to BA’s Wilk Wilkinson on how curiosity could help us move from zero-sum politics toward genuine understanding and shared solutions.
🎧 Listen to Changing Hearts and Minds: Curiosity and Constructive Conversations
History isn’t static. Watch Wilk talk to Monica Haris about how we should teach history, frame identity, and equip the next generation for a complicated and often divided world.
🎥 Watch Teaching History Without Taking Sides
Productive disagreement. Watch Maury talk about how BA has grown from a single experiment to bringing together 80,000 people across all 50 states and what that journey has taught him.
🎥 Watch
Depolarization through Courageous Citizenship with Braver Angels CEO Maury Giles
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