A top pollster and an award-winning journalist break down who is self‑censoring, why Gen Z sees democracy differently, and whether the U.S. can reverse its authoritarian slide.
[11:10] Lauren Anderson:
Welcome to The Steady State Sentinel. I’m Lauren Anderson. I spent nearly 30 years in the FBI working national security issues in the U.S. and overseas.
Over time, I’ve developed a habit of running toward crises that most people run away from.
Today we’re going to talk about an interesting national poll that was conducted in late March of this year by Lincoln Park Strategies, focused on the strength of our democracy, concerns about whether the U.S. is moving toward a more authoritarian form of government, and the extent to which people feel comfortable expressing their political views in public.
One of the findings was that 54% of our fellow Americans say that they hesitate to express their political views at work, online, and in their communities because they’re worried about the consequences.
And 76% of respondents expressed some level of concern, ranging from slightly concerned to extremely concerned, about the U.S. moving toward a more authoritarian form of government.
So what’s behind this? Does it look the same for everyone across gender, race, political identity, and generations?
We have two guests to talk about this with us today who each bring different perspectives. We have Stefan Hankin, CEO of Lincoln Park Strategies, the firm that designed and conducted this polling, and Joel Anderson, an award-winning multimedia journalist and podcaster with The Ringer and Slate.
They’re here to talk about their perception of what these numbers mean.
Before we start, I want to share a little bit more of their background.
As I mentioned, Stefan is the founder of Lincoln Park Strategies. He has over two decades of experience in market research, data analytics, communication strategy, and public opinion polling and analysis for Fortune 500 companies, local governments, and political candidates.
Notably, he was part of the polling team that helped Barack Obama become the 44th president of the United States, and he has led research in 25 countries and all 50 U.S. states.
He’s also the co-founder of Trendency Research, a dynamic audience research platform. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and the Christian Science Monitor, among other outlets.
He’s also appeared on numerous radio and television platforms both in the United States and Canada. He’s a native of the Boston area and a graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
And the fun part of this? He describes himself as a recovering rugby player, an old man hockey player, and an aspiring ski bum. So we know he’s got a great sense of humor.
And Joel is a senior staff writer at The Ringer and co-host of The Press Box podcast. He most recently worked at Slate, where he was the host of seasons three, six, and eight of the award-winning Slow Burn narrative history podcast series, and was co-host of the weekly sports podcast Hang Up and Listen.
Prior to that, Joel was a national college football writer at ESPN, where he wrote news and narrative stories about race, the role of race justice in sports, and American life.
He’s also worked at BuzzFeed, the *Atlanta Journal-Constitution*, and the Associated Press, among other publications. His piece “The Two Michael Sams,” which I read and found really compelling, was featured in *The Best American Sports Writing of 2015.
[28:47] Stefan Hankin:
This is how it works, right? It is a multi-year slow progression into the full system.
This is a playbook, and we see each of the stages being hit. Certainly silencing critics and silencing the media is chapter two or chapter three. This is early-stage stuff so that you can get away with more and more if no one is actually looking at this and reporting on it.
We’ve seen this happen before. But as long as a majority of people think it doesn’t affect them or it’s not that big a deal, the longer this runway can go.
[29:32] Lauren Anderson:
And Stefan, you mentioned to me in an earlier conversation in this context too something your mom shared with you. Would you be comfortable sharing that here again?
[29:45] Stefan Hankin:
Sure.
My mom was born in 1938 in Berlin. She was obviously young during the war, but she has vivid memories of what that was like.
I would say she’s probably one of the more depressed people when it comes to what’s going on in this country right now because it’s like: *I lived through this. I lived through the aftermath of it.*
The fact that we’re even here again is shocking.
And it’s not just in the United States that you see this sort of far-right movement. We’re seeing it happen in Europe too, to different degrees.
But here we are again refusing to learn the lessons of the past and just going along with it because of a handful of reasons — a lot of it economic anxiety. You have leaders willing to step in and instead of trying to solve problems, they point fingers and blame people.
And meanwhile they enrich themselves on the way down.
But the fact that we know what the playbook is, we’ve seen it happen before, and we’re just letting it happen — that’s the disturbing part.
[31:18] Lauren Anderson:
Well, I don’t know if you guys know this, but I actually lived and worked in authoritarian countries in different parts of the world during my FBI career.
So I’ve seen it up close.
I know what it looks like to be muzzled. I know what it looks like to be ambushed in a situation where corruption and power become normalized.
And I think part of why this conversation matters is because Americans often assume it can’t happen here — until it starts happening gradually.
[43:00] Joel Anderson:
Just in the last 24 hours, Trump got out of a hundred million dollar IRS fine, secured future immunity from tax investigations not just for himself but for his family and friends, created a $1.8 billion slush fund for January 6 supporters, and was reportedly involved in likely insider trading worth nearly a billion dollars.
At any other point in our lives, any one of those things would have been impeachable.
People would have said we can’t stand for that.
But there just doesn’t appear to be the bandwidth, the interest, or maybe the political will to do something about it.
[43:52] Lauren Anderson:
I do think it’s political will.
And I want to bring this to something else as well because obviously the FBI — an institution that I spent three decades of my life in — has been torn apart and disrupted.
They’ve fired people without cause, stripped away expertise that we need during incredibly complex moments like war in Iran.
And that matters.
But we also have a very diverse audience listening to this podcast.
I grew up a Republican. Treasurer and Ways and Means Chair of Teenage Republicans for the State of New Jersey. That was my life for a long time.
But I am deeply distressed with what’s going on now, which is why I’m doing this podcast and writing about these issues.
What I always want us to do in these conversations is speak to the American people and explain why this matters for them.
How do we encourage open conversation and dialogue without judgment?
How do we bring more people into the conversation — including MAGA supporters who may be listening?
[45:26] Stefan Hankin:
One place I would start is George Washington’s farewell address.
One of the big themes in it is what happens when you put party before country.
He warned that if people made political party their identity and their primary loyalty, it would open the door to tyranny.
And honestly, that’s where we are right now.
This can’t just be Democrat versus Republican anymore. It has to be America versus authoritarianism.
[49:42] Joel Anderson:
With Easter, I took my kid — I’m not really a regular churchgoing person anymore. My parents made me go growing up, I went to Catholic school, but things change.
I’ve got two small kids, a four-year-old and an almost two-year-old, and we went to an Easter egg hunt at a local church.
We had a great time. We were there for like an hour and a half, and I found myself thinking: *We might need to join a church.*
And it wasn’t just because I thought I needed more God — though I probably do.
It was because these people were really great. These were people I could build community with.
My kids are about to start school, and I thought: another good way to reach people is through schools, PTAs, volunteer organizations, helping kids and meeting their parents.
That’s another way of meeting people outside your social media stream or outside the people already in your phone.
I’m a big local elections guy. I covered City Hall in Shreveport, Louisiana about twenty years ago and it changed my life. I got deeply interested in zoning issues and local government.
Even voting in local elections — which aren’t always partisan — matters.
Finding people who genuinely want to improve the place where you live and supporting them if they want to do more.
I think that’s where this has to start: smaller communities, smaller units of gathering, smaller units of organization.
[50:08] Lauren Anderson:
Yeah, I agree. That’s perfectly said.
At a commencement speech at Muhlenberg College on Sunday, the honorary degree recipient said to the graduates: *Participate, don’t spectate.*
And Joel, that’s exactly what you’re talking about.
I’m so appreciative of both of you joining us and sharing your thoughts.
Stefan, the polling work. Joel, your perspective and reporting.
And thanks also to our audience. We’re always glad you’re here, and we hope you’ll share your thoughts with us.
Make comments on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, on our Substack page — we do want to hear from you because it matters.
We’re trying to create content that helps all of us find ways to talk together.
So this is Lauren Anderson for The Steady State Sentinel, still standing watch.
The Steady State Sentinel is produced by The Steady State, a community of former national security professionals who spent their careers safeguarding the United States at home and abroad. Today, we continue that mission by staying true to our oaths to defend the Constitution, uphold democracy, and protect national security. Each episode features expert hosts in conversation with accomplished guests whose experience sheds light on the crises and challenges facing the nation.