Yet as their hands glide over broad red and white stripes and sew bright stars to blue rectangles, crafting the most unifying American symbol, the flagmakers sound far more alike than different.
Because we realize, together we stand, divided we fall.
Haney and Bouldin work on opposite ends of the sprawling sewing room floor, and political pollsters would see them in different worlds altogether.
American agreement is harder to gauge than division, observes Tom Smith, director of an eminent yardstick of public opinion, the General Social Survey at the University of Chicago .
Patrick Miller, a political science professor at the University of Kansas who studies partisanship and polling, said Americans unite around national pride, symbols such as the flag and pop culture.
"The people attending the Democratic and Republican conventions this summer do have more extreme opinions than in the past," said O'Connell, a political science professor at Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
The gun debate may polarize Capitol Hill and statehouses, but there is wide consensus among Americans on mandating background checks for gun shows and private sales (85 percent agree, according to a Pew Research Center poll ), and on keeping weapons from the mentally ill (79 percent agree).
Public opinion polls show Americans, far more than those elsewhere, believe hard work is very important to get ahead in life and that individuals have control over their success in life .
Strikingly, Americans stand out among rich countries for their widespread belief in God, the importance of religion in their lives and the regularity in which they practice their faith.
Americans love to eat out so much that spending on restaurants and bars — an estimated $54 billion in June , according to the U.S. Department of Commerce — has eclipsed that in grocery stores.
Wherever they dine, they love red meat and ice cream and cheese, USDA data shows .
An Associated Press survey reaching that unsurprising conclusion also noted cats get far more mixed reviews.
Many of these everyday markers of consensus were on display on a sun-drenched July day on the National Mall in Washington, where people jogged in team T-shirts, walked their dogs or grabbed lunch at a food truck — all on a stretch showcasing grand-scale symbols of American unity.
A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found a large majority of Americans regard the U.S. as one of the greatest countries, even as that survey also affirmed deep splits on politics today.
Surveys show most lack much confidence in Congress or the overall political system, most doubt Clinton or Trump will unify the country, and more than eight in 10 people believe the country is more divided than in the past.
American children start their school days, hand to heart, in a pledge to the flag, and it becomes as much a fixture in their lives as in their history books.
During the Vietnam War, when fervent opposition led some to burn flags in protest, business was lean, but bicentennial celebrations in 1976 brought a new surge of orders.
When there are trying times, whether terrorism or natural disaster or a hardball political season that drives wedges between people, he sees the flag's resonance grow.
