New polling from NPR/Marist aligns with much of what we are seeing in other polling: Trump’s approval rating is now below 40% and Democrats appear to have an edge in the midterm. But what is more interesting is its message that both parties need to rebuild the electorate’s trust by delivering for ordinary Americans. NPR nicely summarizes and, in doing so, reinforces that an under-appreciated factor driving our current politics is the social distance between party elites and those they seek to represent–a point to be drawn from Theda Skocpol’s historical comparison of civic and political networks.

‘I feel lost,’ said poll respondent Wayne Dowdy of Memphis, Tenn., who calls himself a ‘lapsed Democrat.’ ‘The parties don’t speak to me anymore.’

He said he often feels unseen by the Democratic Party, but, given the alternative, he plans to keep supporting Democratic candidates — for now.

The disillusionment extends to how people see those in the opposite political party. Big majorities of Democrats and Republicans said the other party is ‘dishonest’ and ‘closed-minded’ about politics.

. . . .

‘They don’t interact with working people,’he said, ‘regardless of whether they work in an office or on a job site or building homes or working in a factory. They don’t know how people like that live… They have no connection to the real people. And there’s no attempt to try and reach that.'”

Trust figures summarized:

“From the political parties and Congress to the Supreme Court and the media, . . . respondents said they had little to no confidence in these critical institutions.

. . . .

Worst among them was Congress — 80% said they had little to no confidence in it, followed by the media (75%), the Democratic Party (71%), the Republican Party (65%) and the Supreme Court (62%).”