Perhaps one of the biggest points of contention in recent weeks has been the debate over whether and how schools should reopen this coming fall. On the surface, political quibbling has made the issue appear as partisan as the debates over lockdowns or reforming the police, with those on the right favoring reopening—and President Trump even threatening to defund schools that refuse to reopen—and advocates on the left arguing for a far more cautious return to school. But below this political contention lies considerable agreement across the political spectrum on several of the key issues.

Before Covid-19 took the spotlight on the international stage (as measured by volume of news coverage), climate change, climate impacts, and climate-related protests garnered heavy discussion. How has the pandemic impacted debates over our approach to the environment and climate issues?

Americans believe the time has come for police reform. In the wake of the George Floyd protests, support for measures to reform the police has surged. A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll shows overwhelming support for many changes: 

As much as Covid-19 has been a health pandemic, it has also been a pandemic of disagreement, particularly when it comes to lockdowns, in terms of both their effectiveness at stopping the spread of the virus and their relative costs for society. There is a fairly consistent divide in how the left and right view lockdowns (unlike with the efficacy of mask use, which the left and the right generally agree upon, even if the American public hasn’t always followed through).