joining us now for the interview is robert putnam, professor of public policy at harvard and one of thetwo authors of "american grace." thank you for your time tonight. i'm glad to be here. >> why don't you just call me bob the professor. >> very good. thank you for putting your old database to such an interesting new use. were you surprised by what you found when you went back into the second round of survey? >> yeah, i was shocked actually. david campbell, my co-author, said we should ask about the tea party because he thought it would be related to the revisions of our book on religion. i said, look, it's a book about religion. not about politics. so i didn't -- and i believed the basic storyline in the public media, which is the tea party was a bunch of independents who were upset about the growth of government and were getting involved for the first time in politics. he said, no, i don't think that's right, bob. i'm betting there is some relationship to the old religious right. and i said, well, let's ask and find out. and david won that bet. as you were saying before, of all the p

david campbell and robert putnam write in the new york times today, "the tea party is today, "the tea party is increasingly swimming against the tide of public opinion. among most americans, it's brand was becoming toxic, to embrace the tea party carries great political risk for republicans, but perhaps not for the reason you might think." now, these respected authors say that the tea party ranks lower than 23 other groups they asked americans about, including unfairly but widely maligned groups like atheists and muslims. the tea party is increasingly the tea party is increasingly becoming a liability for republicans because what started as a small movement as morphed into another vehicle for social conservatives to inject exclusionary ideas into government. so important to their mythology, looks like the tea party is formed by a group of veteran activists with a very specific political agenda. so while the number of tea party core supporters haven't changed much over the past year from 21% in april 2010 to 20% today, the number of americans who have an unfavorable view of the tea par

they're the most, according to robert putnam "new york times" in the yesterday, you had them on. they're the most unpopular group in the american electorate. all he needs to do, point out that john boehner said there is no room between me and the fee party. instead, he assumed that john boehner can somehow bring the tea party to the heel and sell them this deal when they're entire existential existence, reason for being on this earth politically is not making any kind of compromise like that. >> exactly. here's president obama on government's role in reviving the economy. let's listen. kind of defensive. respond to this, alex. >> the prime driver of economic growth and jobs is going to be our people and the private sector and our businesses, but you know what? government can help. government can make a difference. so i hope that i can count on you in the days ahead to lend your voice to this fight to strengthen our economy. i need you to keep your pressure on your elected representatives, for things like the pay roll tax cuts or road construction funds. the other steps that will

and robert putnam wrote this book, bowling alone. there was a measurable decline in many metrics of voter per dissipation, cement participation. -- civic participation. civic engagement has been on the decline. would this help make a better citizen and lead to more education and elections, a point that fred says often occurs? >> i think there would be a lot of incentives in the political system to change the nature of our debates and for people who are going to vote perhaps bend a little bit more time or pay attention. and might move a little bit away from what we have now. let me acknowledge that -- let me say again that i am not looking for everyone to be nice. much of the disparity for difference when you look at it cannot predict when you look at canada or other countries is cultural. -- much of the disparity or difference when you look at these other countries such as canada is cultural. our political system was built on deliberation, a debate, and argumentation. there is nothing wrong with arguments. the problem as i see it is

it's interesting how robert putnam, the famous sociologist, had been working on a number of years of assessing the impact of diversity on civic engagement and participation. he did not like the results he got. essentially he said that it places with the most diversity in america were those of the lowest levels of social trust, lowest levels of social engagement. people hunkered down, became couch potatoes and did not go to the local cake sale or join the rotary or knights of columbus, whatever have you. people tend to hunker down to escape the friction that develops in excessively diverse places, yet the times promotes diversity as an aggressive creed, and this is not just diversity as a personnel policy, but diversity as a demographic reality. charles, one of the columnist who says to the tray partyers, you want the country back, but you won't get it. welcome to america, the remix. it's that demographic triumph of diversity and the cult of ethnicity that is not only bad for our democratic life, but it's bad for progressivism itself, and i could enumerate that, and i hope to write ab

it's interesting how robert putnam, the famous sociologist, had been working on a number of years of assessing the impact of diversity on civic engagement and participation. he did not like the results he got. essentially he said that it places with the most diversity in america were those of the lowest levels of social trust, lowest levels of social engagement. people hunkered down, became couch potatoes and did not go to the local cake sale or join the rotary or knights of columbus, whatever have you. people tend to hunker down to escape the friction that develops in excessively diverse places, yet the times promotes diversity as an aggressive creed, and this is not just diversity as a personnel policy, but diversity as a demographic reality. charles, one of the columnist who says to the tray partyers, you want the country back, but you won't get it. welcome to america, the remix. it's that demographic triumph of diversity and the cult of ethnicity that is not only bad for our democratic life, but it's bad for progressivism itself, and i could enumerate that, and i hope to write ab

and robert putnam wrote this heralded book, "bowling alone." there was a measureable decline in many metrics of voter participation, civic participation, attendance in bowling leagues. unlike de tocqueville when everyone was bumping in the market square that civic engagement has been on the decline. so would mandatory voting help make a better citizen and lead to more education in elections, a point that fred says often occurs? >> i think there would be a lot of incentives in a political system to change the nature of our debate and for people who are going to vote to perhaps spend a little more time or pay a little bit more attention and it might move a little bit away from what we have now. and let me acknowledge that -- well, first of all, let me say again, i'm not looking for everybody to be nice. much of the disparity or the differences, you look at canada or some of these other countries, is cultural. and you're not going to change the culture overnight. you're not going to make any of these reforms in a fashion that are going to change t

and robert putnam wrote this heralded book, "bowling alone." there was a measureable decline in many metrics of voter participation, civic participation, attendance in bowling leagues. unlike de tocqueville when everyone was bumping in the market square that civic engagement has been on the decline. so would mandatory voting help make a better citizen and lead to more education in elections, a point that fred says often occurs? >> i think there would be a lot of incentives in a political system to change the nature of our debate and for people who are going to vote to perhaps spend a little more time or pay a little bit more attention and it might move a little bit away from what we have now. and let me acknowledge that -- well, first of all, let me say again, i'm not looking for everybody to be nice. much of the disparity or the differences, you look at canada or some of these other countries, is cultural. and you're not going to change the culture overnight. you're not going to make any of these reforms in a fashion that are going to change t

it's interesting how robert putnam, the famous sociologist, had been working on a number of years ofssing the impact of diversity on civic engagement and participation. he did not like the results he got. essentially he said that it places with the most diversity in america were those of the lowest levels of social trust, lowest levels of social engagement. people hunkered down, became couch potatoes and did not go to the local cake sale or join the rotary or knights of columbus, whatever have you. people tend to hunker down to escape the friction that develops in excessively diverse places, yet the times promotes diversity as an aggressive creed, and this is not just diversity as a personnel policy, but diversity as a demographic reality. charles, one of the columnist who says to the tray partyers, you want the country back, but you won't get it. welcome to america, the remix. it's that demographic triumph of diversity and the cult of ethnicity that is not only bad for our democratic life, but it's bad for progressivism itself, and i could enumerate that, and i hope to write about t