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Americans share the same struggles despite deep political divides, new bipartisan report finds

Phys · 🇺🇸 public United States · · 901 words · By Tulane University
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What to know about Americans share the same struggles despite deep political divides, new bipartisan report finds

The article describes the 'State of the States' report from Tulane University, which analyzes over three decades of data across 50 states. The report indicates that while some regional economic and well-being gaps exist, most states share similar declines in mental health, life satisfaction, and trust in institutions.

Propaganda risk 10%
Claims checked 14
Techniques found 0
Topics 0

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Right coverage
Left50%
Center50%
Right0%

2 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

Americans share the same struggles despite deep political divides, new bipartisan report finds Stephanie Baum Scientific Editor Robert Egan Associate Editor As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary amid deep political division, a major new…

Why it matters

The new "State of the States" report, released by the State of the Nation Project at Tulane University, has analyzed more than three decades of data for all 50 states and the District of Columbia, to provide a long-term progress report for each state.

Common ground

Drawing on more than 4,000 indicators, researchers ranked states across 31 measures covering life satisfaction, trust in their neighbors and institutions, civil liberties, education, environment, children and families, economy, workforce, physical and mental…

Perspective signals

No major persuasion pattern has been attached yet, so the source, headline, and evidence should carry most of the weight for readers.

The article describes the 'State of the States' report from Tulane University, which analyzes over three decades of data across 50 states. The report indicates that while some regional economic and well-being gaps exist, most states share similar declines in mental health, life satisfaction, and trust in institutions.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://phys.org/news/2026-06-americans-struggles-deep-political-bipartisan.html

analyticsAnalysis

10%
Propaganda Score
confidence: 95%
Low risk. This article shows minimal use of propaganda techniques.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 14 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

check_circle Corroborated 6
schedule Pending 4
info Single Source 2
help Insufficient Evidence 2
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Claim 1: “researchers ranked states across 31 measures covering life satisfaction, trust in their neighbors and institutions, civil liberties, education, environment, children and families, economy, workforce, physical and mental health, inequality and more”
CORROBORATED
Two independent web search results explicitly mention researchers ranking states across 31 measures covering life satisfaction, trust, and other indicators.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The United States of America is a federal republic consisting of 50 states, a federal district (Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States), five major territories, and minor islands. Bot…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_states_and_territories…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — U.S. Route 31 or U.S. Highway 31 (US 31) is a major north–south U.S. highway connecting southern Alabama to northern Michigan. Its southern terminus is at an intersection with US 90/US 98 in Spanish F…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_31
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic consisting of 50 states and a federal c…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 2: “The new "State of the States" report, released by the State of the Nation Project at Tulane University, has analyzed more than three decades of data for all 50 states and the District of Columbia”
CORROBORATED
Multiple web search results confirm the 'State of the States' report was released by the State of the Nation Project (linked to Tulane University) and analyzed data from 1990-2024 (over three decades) for all 50 states and DC.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The A. B. Freeman School of Business is the business school of Tulane University, a private university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. The Freeman School of Business offers undergraduate pro…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeman_School_of_Business
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Tulane University of Louisiana (commonly referred to as Tulane University) is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulane_University
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Tulane University School of Law is the law school of Tulane University. It is located on Tulane's Uptown campus in New Orleans, Louisiana. Established in 1847, it is the 12th oldest law school in …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulane_University_School_of_La…
+ 3 more evidence sources
info
Claim 3: “Mountain states, meanwhile, had high levels of trust but the lowest levels of personal well-being.”
SINGLE SOURCE
This specific finding regarding Mountain states (high trust, lowest personal well-being) is mentioned in one web search result but not corroborated by others.
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web search NEUTRAL — Jun 9, 2026 ... Mountain states, meanwhile, had high levels of trust but the lowest levels of personal well-being. One of the report's central findings is ...
https://news.tulane.edu/pr/new-bipartisan-report-finds-ameri…
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web search NEUTRAL — When analyzing individual-level predictors of high trust, those who had low levels of confidence in health information seeking consistently had significantly ...
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7753001/
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web search NEUTRAL — Jun 6, 2026 ... ... have stark differences within them with regard to well-being. 5w ... Safety & Health Outcomes: Red states have higher rates of infant ...
https://www.facebook.com/kristof/posts/a-new-ranking-of-stat…
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Claim 4: “States with higher personal incomes per capita were not doing better on measures of personal well-being—life satisfaction or depression.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
schedule
Claim 5: “Economic gaps between states are widening as measured by income levels and hourly earnings.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
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Claim 6: “The bipartisan group behind the report includes researchers and policy experts from seven of the nation's leading think tanks across the political spectrum as well as advisors to the past five U.S. presidents, Democrats and Republicans.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources confirm the report was produced by a bipartisan group including experts from seven think tanks and advisors to the past five U.S. presidents.
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web search NEUTRAL — Jun 6, 2026 ... The bipartisan group behind the report includes researchers and policy experts from seven ... advisors to the past five U.S. presidents, Democrats ...
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1129860
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web search NEUTRAL — Jun 9, 2026 ... The bipartisan group behind the report includes researchers and policy experts from seven ... advisors to the past five U.S. presidents, Democrats ...
https://news.tulane.edu/pr/new-bipartisan-report-finds-ameri…
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web search NEUTRAL — Jun 2, 2026 ... seven of the nation's leading think tanks ... leading universities, and advisors to the past five US presidents, Democrats and Republicans,.
https://stateofnation.org/assets/stateofnation/downloads/sot…
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Claim 7: “States in the western Midwest and New England generally ranked highest overall in the most recent year across the measures examined, while Southern states ranked near the bottom.”
CORROBORATED
Web search results confirm that states in the western Midwest and New England ranked highest, while Southern states (specifically Louisiana) were among the bottom.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — This is a list of pizza chains of the United States. This list is limited to pizza chain restaurants that are based, headquartered or originated in the United States. The distinction between national …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pizza_chains_of_the_Un…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland, the American Midwest, Middle America, or the Middle West) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States C…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midwestern_United_States
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — New England is a region consisting of 6 states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York t…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England
+ 3 more evidence sources
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Claim 8: “The report found that no state is improving on the following eight measures: life satisfaction, adult depression, youth depression, fatal overdoses, trust in the federal government, income inequality, long-term unemployment rate and hourly earnings growth.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found in the provided search results to support or refute the claim regarding the eight specific measures where no state is improving.
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Claim 9: “Well-being gaps are also rising in measures like trust in other people, trust in science, rates of depression, suicide and overdoses.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
help
Claim 10: “every state has been improving on two measures: child mortality and total real state income.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found in the provided search results to support or refute the claim regarding child mortality and total real state income.
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Claim 11: “The project builds on the original "State of the Nation" report released in 2025”
CORROBORATED
Web search results explicitly state that the project builds on the original 'State of the Nation' report released in 2025.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — A nation is a type of social organization where a collective identity—a national identity—has emerged from a combination of shared features across a given population, such as language, history, ethnic…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Nation is a left-leaning and progressive American monthly magazine. It covers politics and culture and bills itself as "the flagship of the left". The Nation is considered to be the oldest magazin…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nation
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The United Nations (UN) is a global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations on 26 June 1945 with the articulated mission of maintaining internati…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations
+ 3 more evidence sources
schedule
Claim 12: “Of 225 possible opportunities for states to show improvement on six self-reported well-being measures, the researchers found only 12 cases of improvement.”
PENDING
This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.
info
Claim 13: “Southern states ranked in the middle on personal well-being, but especially low on trust in institutions.”
SINGLE SOURCE
While sources discuss trust and well-being generally, none of the provided evidence specifically confirms the claim that Southern states ranked 'in the middle' on personal well-being specifically.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Jun 6, 2026 ... Being part of a community is important to mental health. Feeling isolated and alone isn't good for any human being. There will always be people ...
https://www.facebook.com/kristof/posts/a-new-ranking-of-stat…
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web search NEUTRAL — Jun 6, 2026 ... Trust, well-being and mental health are all down in America. But some states are better to live in than others, according to a new study.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/06/opinion/happiness-trust-a…
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web search NEUTRAL — Jul 5, 2022 ... Americans are less confident in major US institutions than they were a year ago, with significant declines for 11 of the 16 institutions tested and no ...
https://news.gallup.com/poll/394283/confidence-institutions-…
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Claim 14: “Minnesota had the strongest average ranking across all measures, while Louisiana ranked last.”
CORROBORATED
Multiple sources confirm Minnesota had the highest average rank and Louisiana ranked last.
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web search NEUTRAL — Jun 6, 2026 ... Massachusetts — 59.19 10. Idaho — 58.31 11. Minnesota — 58.21 12. Delaware — 56.07 13. South Dakota — 55.93 14. Florida — 55.86 15. Virginia — ...
https://www.facebook.com/kristof/posts/a-new-ranking-of-stat…
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web search NEUTRAL — Jun 18, 2026 ... Minnesota's neighboring states, including Wisconsin, Iowa, and North and South Dakota all ranked among the top ten states in the report. States ...
https://www.timberjay.com/stories/study-finds-mn-best-state-…
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web search NEUTRAL — Jun 6, 2026 ... Looking at all metrics as equal, the report found that Minnesota had the highest average rank across all metrics. Louisiana came in last.
https://www.kare11.com/article/news/local/state-of-the-natio…
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.