(4-13-26) The Institute for Civics and Public Policy (ICAPP) at Ohio Northern University has released the Spring 2026 installment of the Northern Poll, its flagship public opinion research program. This latest research focused on political civility and the personal experiences of Ohioans in a polarized climate.

Dr. Keith F. Durkin, professor of sociology and director of ICAPP

“Political civility has become a critical civic priority following a series of high-profile incidents of political violence.These include the e killings of Minnesota House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband; the arson attack on the residence of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro; and the attempted assassination of then-presidential candidate Donald J. Trump.”

The poll, conducted from March 25 through March 29, surveyed 1,600 Ohio adults. The civility and optimism measures have margins of error ranging from 2.7 to 3 points depending on the question. The full results can be found here. Durkin and Gabriel Mott, an ICAPP Fellow, led the project in collaboration with SurveyUSA.

Experience with political civility

Most Ohioans have been treated with political civility and find incivility unacceptable. Poll participants were asked to rate how often they experience adverse events related to their political beliefs on a scale from “regularly,” “occasionally,” “rarely,” to “never.” Sixty percent of participants responded “rarely” or “never” to the statement “I am uncomfortable sharing my political beliefs.” Similarly, 61% of participants responded this way to the statement “I am judged by others for my political beliefs.” Eighty percent report that they are rarely or never harassed for their political beliefs, and 87% are rarely or never denied opportunities because of their political beliefs.

Ohioans also overwhelmingly find the mistreatment of others based on political beliefs to be unacceptable. Participants responded with a net acceptability of -46 to the statement “I could stop talking to a friend because of their political beliefs” (49% completely unacceptable, 17% somewhat unacceptable, 14% neither unacceptable nor acceptable, 12% somewhat acceptable, 8% completely acceptable). The net acceptability drops to -52 for family members. Refusing service to someone because of their political beliefs has a net acceptability of -72, and doxing or publicly shaming has a net acceptability of -74.

These results can be expanded by considering participants’ party affiliation. ICAPP considers aggregated party affiliation, which includes participants who self-identify as a member of a particular political party and those who indicated they lean closer to a particular party after initially saying they may have no preference or belong to a third party. Republicans’ net acceptability is 47 points lower than Democrats’ to “stop talking to a friend,” 41 points lower to “stop talking to a family member,” 17 points lower to “deny service,” and 19 points lower to “dox or publicly shame.”

Dr. Brian King, assistant professor of political science at ONU and ICAPP Faculty Associate

“Without civil discourse on difficult issues, there is much less opportunity for opposing sides to come together to understand each other and find acceptable solutions to common problems. It’s encouraging to see that most Ohioans have been afforded this civility and find ill treatment of those with different beliefs unacceptable. However, two in five sometimes feel uncomfortable sharing their beliefs and feel judged for what they believe, and the one in five who find ill treatment of others acceptable can seem to have very loud voices, especially online.”

Ohioans are deeply divided on optimism for the future

Participants were also asked the general question, “How pessimistic or optimistic would you say you are about the future”? Responses were nearly evenly split, with 12% saying they feel “very pessimistic,” 25% saying they feel “somewhat pessimistic,” 22% saying they feel “neither pessimistic nor optimistic,” 29% saying they feel “somewhat optimistic,” and 12% saying they feel “very optimistic.” This leaves a net positivity of only +4.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the division in optimism was very pronounced along party lines. Republicans had +26 net positivity, while Democrats had -21 and Independents had only +2.

ICAPP Fellow Curtis Ware

“With a Republican president, as well as Republicans having control over the House and the Senate, it is very fitting to see that Republicans are more likely to be optimistic about the future. People are much more likely to like the direction the country is going in when the people they voted for are in charge.”

Experiences are different for LGBTQ+ Ohioans and Older Ohioans

ICAPP also considered the differences in its results based on participant characteristics. Senior participants (age 50+) were consistently more disapproving of uncivil behavior than their younger peers. They had a net acceptability of -60 to “stop talking to a friend” (compared to -35 for those under age 50 and -46 for the entire sample), -66 to “stop talking to a family member,” -79 to “deny service,” and -78 to “dox or publicly shame.”

LGBTQ+ participants reported more frequently experiencing uncivil behavior than their peers. 50% of LGBTQ+ participants reported regularly or occasionally being judged by others for their political beliefs, compared to 38% for straight participants and 39% for the entire sample. 36% regularly or occasionally feel uncomfortable sharing their political beliefs, 21% are regularly or occasionally denied opportunities, and 32% are regularly or occasionally harassed. Likewise, LGBTQ+ participants are significantly less optimistic about the future; they report -13 net positivity, compared to +6 for straight participants and +4 for the entire sample.

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