Yet Americans increasingly express profound pessimism about their own political future, and many openly question the health of their democracy. A Reuters\/Ipsos poll found that 38% don\u2019t believe the US will still exist as a single country in another 250 years. Gallop found that fewer than half believe everyone has an equal shot at the American dream.<\/p>\n
The conventional explanation is that America has become hopelessly polarized. There is truth in that observation, but it misses something fundamental: Not everyone is part of the polarization. The deeper problem is that the American political system is attempting to represent three broad political constituencies through only two parties.<\/p>\n
The largest of those constituencies is neither progressive nor MAGA populist. It is a broad, pragmatic center that has steadily lost meaningful political representation \u2013 yet is, if defined loosely enough, about half the population.<\/p>\n
![\"Prime](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1780666396_769_712307.jpeg\"\/)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump are seen shaking hands at a press conference in 2025. (credit: JONATHAN ERNST\/REUTERS)<\/p>\n
On most of the country\u2019s defining issues, Americans cluster far closer to the middle than political debate would suggest.<\/p>\n
Large majorities favor abortion rights together with reasonable restrictions, secure borders together with an orderly immigration system, responsible gun ownership together with universal background checks, market economics together with a basic healthcare guarantee, and environmental protection pursued without needlessly sacrificing economic competitiveness.<\/p>\n
On foreign policy, they continue to believe that American leadership matters and that longstanding alliances, including the one with Israel (certainly once the current government is gone), serve both American interests and global stability.<\/p>\n
Yet the structure of the two-party system increasingly rewards ideological intensity rather than broad public appeal. Primaries empower activists, compromise becomes politically hazardous, and elected officials find themselves answering first to their party\u2019s most committed factions rather than to the country as a whole. So you get MAGA on one side, and progressives on the other.<\/p>\n
This has consequences well beyond Washington. For decades, Israel<\/a> enjoyed one of the strongest bipartisan consensuses in American public life.<\/p>\n Support for Israel rested comfortably within the political mainstream of both parties, allowing the relationship to remain remarkably durable through changes of government. Today, that is falling apart.<\/p>\n Isolationist currents on the Republican right increasingly question America\u2019s international commitments, while anti-Zionist activism has become far more influential within parts of the Democratic coalition.<\/p>\n