When I was a boy I used to go vote with my mother on Election Day. At a nearby public school, we would enter a booth, draw a heavy curtain and I’d flick a number of little levers at her direction to mark our choices. Then I’d pull the handle to make it official.

Afterward, I felt confident (and so did she) that even if our preferred candidates lost, the election would be honest and accurate. I no longer have that kind of unshakable faith in the system.

Apparently, my fears are shared. According to Gallup earlier in October, fewer than 1 in 5 Americans are “very confident” that votes in the upcoming election will be accurately cast and counted. I watched a focus group a few weeks ago in which undecided voters unanimously told the moderator they didn’t trust the media, but then made it clear that they didn’t trust the president either, nor did they respect his opponent.

The mail I get from readers is much the same: incensed, often profane, expressions of partisanship (from one side or the other) or weary, cynical distrust of everybody concerned.

A substantial portion of the skepticism about American government and politics can be credited to President Donald Trump.

But Americans’ jaundiced view of the system predates Trump and will outlast him. It’s been decades in the making, as elected officials have grown more polarized and vindictive. The shattering of traditional rules and norms that has led to bitterness and gridlock in Washington goes back decades.

Partisan rancor, distrust of elections, demonization of one’s political opponents, rising incivility and unwillingness to work across the aisle will not go away on their own. Yet if they don’t, how will the country rise to the pressing challenges of the coronavirus, the economic crisis it has spawned, the imminent climate change catastrophe, racial unrest and a host of other serious problems?

Even as they defend and advocate their own positions, politicians and public officials must learn to work together cooperatively to solve common problems.

It is possible to stick fiercely to one’s principles while also recognizing the need for debate, compromise, bipartisanship and forward movement.

No matter how deep our divisions on issues from climate change to policing to China to trade to health care, democracy cannot function in an atmosphere of ever-escalating antagonism and self-defeating obstructionism.

Nicholas Goldberg is an associate editor and op-ed columnist for the Los Angeles Times.