One in five Americans say they’d support a “national divorce” in which Republican- and Democratic-leaning states split into separate countries, according to new findings from our Axios-Ipsos Two Americas Index.

Why it matters: Are you an optimist or a pessimist?

• One way to look at it is… 20% of the U.S. population is such a small share that it’s nowhere close to moving the needle.
• Or… it represents 66 million people! That’s roughly equivalent to everyone in Texas, Wyoming, West Virginia, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Idaho, Arkansas, Kentucky, South Dakota, Alabama, Georgia and Nebraska combined — and larger than the populations of most countries in the world.

Zoom in: The national divorce provocation, floated by Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene (R-Ga.) in recent weeks, lacks majority support among every slice of the population surveyed.

• But support for splitting up the United States was stronger among Americans whose primary source for news is Fox News or another conservative outlet (32%), and higher among Republicans (25%) than independents or Democrats.
• Men, people who make $50,000 or less per year, and those living in states in the South and West also were more likely than their respective counterparts to support a split.

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The big picture: Only 37% of Americans said they’re optimistic about the state of our democracy.

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• Nearly 2 in 3 Americans now say there’s more that divides us than unites us.

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