Ep. 55: Scott Warren and Morgan Ramsey-Elliot on Conservative Voters and Saving Democracy

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 Guests00:44 Why Study Conservatives01:36 Limits of Polling04:18 Red Associates Approach07:03 Save Democracy Messaging10:41 Democracy Means What17:03 Faith Freedom Family Place18:43 Inside the Ethnography24:00 Values in Daily Life28:32 Types of Conservative Critics30:36 Crisis Segments Explained31:41 Bridge Building Strategies33:51 Elite Messaging And Slippage36:23 COVID Trust Breakdown38:19 Everyday Institutional Failures42:06 Illiberalism Perception Gap45:36 Ethnography Interview Method49:02 Why Outrage Persuasion Fails51:09 Report Reception And Backlash54:46 Dissemination And HopeResourcesFull Report: https://conservativestudy.redassociates.com/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit wemadethispolitical.substack.com