About this episode

The episode discusses conservative Americans' relationships to democracy and institutional trust through an ethnographic lens.

Lauren Hall and Lura Forcum host Scott Warren (SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins) and Morgan Ramsey-Elliot (ReD Associates) to discuss their report, “Faith, Freedom, Family and Place,” an ethnographic study of conservative Americans’ relationships to democracy and institutional trust. They explain why common “save democracy” messaging often falls flat, arguing that democracy means different things across audiences and can be heard as protecting the status quo or advancing a partisan progressive agenda. Drawing on deep fieldwork, they describe a moral foundation—faith, freedom, family, and place—and three conservative orientations (actor critics, system critics, and foundation defenders) that predict tolerance for democratic norm deviation. The conversation highlights how local civic life, institutional encounters, COVID-era experiences, and information ecosystems shape distrust, and stresses listening, specificity, and honest reckoning with institutional failures. 00:00 Welcome and Guests 00:44 Why Study Conservatives 01:36 Limits of Polling 04:18 Red Associates Approach 07:03 Save Democracy Messaging 10:41 Democracy Means What 17:03 Faith Freedom Family Place 18:43 Inside the…

People in this episode

Hosts: Lura Forcum, Lauren Hall

Guests: Scott Warren, Morgan Ramsey-Elliot

Topics covered

• conservative voters
• democracy
• institutional trust
• ethnographic study
• civic life
• moral foundations

Keywords

• conservative Americans
• democracy messaging
• institutional failures
• COVID trust
• civic engagement

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins, ReD Associates

Books & works: Faith, Freedom, Family and Place

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