It's business as usual in downtown Boston. Tour buses stop at landmarks, and police cars race past. But talk to people and there's one topic on everyone’s mind.
"It's a shocker"
That's how many describe the presidential election....particularly because everyone they know voted the same way as them.
Connor Burke is a tour guide on the Freedom Trail. He’s wearing an outfit from the Revolutionary War. But since Election night, he's been focused on modern day political news.
"I did not sleep, not a wink actually".
Burke is from Salem and, he says, he voted for Hillary Clinton. So did everyone he knows.
"Do you personally have friends who voted for Trump? Not that I am aware of. So have you ever had a conversation with a Trump supporter. Saying ‘Why are you supporting him’ Not face to face. I haven’t been able to find any. Not yet at least."
That might make the transition to a Trump presidency harder, he says --- he’s worried it would "detract from any sort of coming together."
Little does he know, just a few feet away is one of those Trump supporters. Mike Reynolds is sitting with his adult son outside Faneuil Hall.
"We’re not hiring him for how he talks about women, we’re hiring him to try and get our country straight again."
Reynolds, who is from the Taunton area, is a veteran. He says - with his family and his community of fellow veterans - everyone agrees on Trump: he's abrasive but they like his business experience.
"We liked what he had to say about the Vets, so. So the Vets you know, we’re with you. They agreed.? Oh ya. Oh ya. They agreed something has to be done."
The only person he knows who disagrees is his niece - she voted for Clinton. But they haven’t talked about that decision.
I heard this type of political segregation again and again.
"Honestly, I can’t think of one person I know who voted for Trump"
"Everybody’s a Hillary supporter. Everybody? Everyone. Nobody’s for Trump. No, no one. No one that I know, to be honest with you."
That’s Alicia Woodberry of Quincy and Antonio Martins of Brockton.
So, why do Massachusetts residents seem to be trapped in these political bubbles?
"Geography is quite important. Class is the other thing."
Richard Parker teaches public policy at Harvard University. He thinks our political polarization just reflects what's going on nationally. He notes whites with lower income and lower levels of education are Trump's strongest supporters.
" And it would be unlikely that there would be a lot of day to day contact with say college educated women or others who are supporters of Clinton."
Parker says, if you look back through history, this is a longstanding trend. He says identity politics and globalization are driving voter resentment.
"Now, you can tell them that it's not a zero sum game. But if they don't believe it and they've been told it often enough, then you have a politiical fact on the ground that you have to deal with."
Richard Parker’s colleague -- David King -- says there’s one way to overcome this. He says it’s personal conversations.
"It has to begin with our own families. Every family has that crazy uncle or the crazy aunt who voted for Clinton. Or who voted for Trump. And reach out to your family - right now - and ask them, ‘what happened?’"
Then, David King says, really listen. And try to understand where they are coming from.
In fact, King just did that with his sister.
