(PJ Media) A new poll from Summit.org, in partnership with McLaughlin & Associates, shows that an increasing number of Americans do not believe absolute truth exists.
All the talk about “my truth” and “her truth” has had a measurable effect. Instead of people viewing those phrases as a way to describe an opinion or a perspective, younger Americans believe truth can vary from person to person. In fact, a majority, 55%, of American voters aged 18-29 who expressed an opinion on the issue believe each person determines their own version of the truth.
Overall, 60% of American voters who expressed an opinion believe that there is absolute truth, and 40% believe each person determines their own version of the truth. Even though a majority seems to acknowledge the existence of objective truth, the fact that a number approaching half indicates it does not exist is frightening. It is even more concerning when you consider the current environment.
Perhaps cartoonist and public intellectual Scott Adams put it best. Before the 2020 election, he said Americans watched the same movie on two different screens. Some Americans experienced the Trump presidency through the lens of MSNBC, the New York Times, and other legacy network news channels. Others saw it through the eyes of Fox News, the Salem Media networks, and various podcasts. Few engaged with both sides of the aisle unless their job required them to.
So, while half of Americans who watch cable news waited with bated breath for the other shoe to drop on Russian collusion with Rachel Maddow, the other half learned from Tucker Carlson that Special Counsel Robert Mueller found nothing. Few voters know that court documents exonerated General Michael Flynn before President Trump pardoned him. Slightly more are aware that the only campaign that colluded with a Russian in 2016 was Hillary Clinton’s. Special Counsel John Durham’s findings received almost no legacy media coverage, leaving most of the country ignorant of the machinations of Igor Danchenko.
However, there are objective truths about all of these issues. Hillary Clinton’s campaign paid for the Steele dossier and shopped it to law enforcement agencies. The nation and Trump’s presidency were held hostage by low-quality opposition research. Investigating it cost Americans around $40 million. COVID-19 was never dangerous for children, and the vaccines carry real risks, especially for men under 40. It is also most likely that the virus emerged from a lab in Wuhan, China, not a vat of bat soup.
“The number of Americans who say there is no absolute truth is alarmingly high. But among young adults, we have now officially passed the tipping point. The majority of youth now say that each person determines their own version of truth,” said Dr. Jeff Myers, president of Summit.org and the author of the new book Truth Changes Everything: How People of Faith Can Transform the World in Times of Crisis. “The loss of truth has grave consequences for community, justice, a sense of purpose, and mental health. I’m not aware of any civilization that has abandoned reality to this extent and survived.”
