Barabak: America has gotten ruder. Starting at the very top

If you’ve driven on the freeway in recent years, been to the grocery store, attended a movie or a live performance — heck, if you’ve been at all sentient — the findings of a new poll will startle you about as much as the sun rising at dawn and setting at dusk.

America has gotten ruder.

At least, that’s how a plurality of Americans perceive the tetchy state of our union.

A poll released by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center found that five years after the start of the COVID-19...