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The idea had never occurred to the Rev. Adam Hamilton at the conclusion of past presidential campaigns. But this Election Day, the megachurch he leads in the Kansas City suburbs will invite congregants, and anyone else who chooses, to stop in and pray for the nation to heal itself.

鈥淭here鈥檚 plenty of division in our country every year, but this year鈥檚 election is different,鈥� said Hamilton, founding pastor of the 20,000-member United Methodist Church of the Resurrection, where two of four campuses will serve as polling stations. 鈥淥ur families are divided. We鈥檙e divided sometimes from our friends. Even when we鈥檙e in church here our politics are different. And I think we have to be reminded that there鈥檚 a bigger picture here.鈥�

As Hamilton鈥檚 congregants and millions of other Americans weather the final days of a campaign cycle filled with insults and anger, the nation indeed finds itself at a troubling crossroads.

Americans are split over immigration, the changes wrought by globalization, the treatment of minorities and the threat of terrorism. But partisanship, long rising, has veered beyond policy disagreement. Now, roughly half of Democrats and Republicans tell pollsters they fear those in the other party.

With people increasingly ensconced in media silos and social networks that surround them with like-minded views, many cannot even agree on what constitutes basic facts.

The economy, by almost any empirical measure, is healthy and gaining traction. Yet as Americans head to the polls, many talk about being left behind not just by the recovery, but the political system.

鈥淭he unemployment rate right now, regardless of what the numbers say, is horrendous鈥�. I can look here and nobody鈥檚 working,鈥� said Alan Halsey, who has a sign for Republican nominee Donald Trump in the window of the general store he runs in Campton, Kentucky. 鈥淚f we continue on this road, this place is going to look like Iraq or Afghanistan. There鈥檚 going to be nothing here.鈥�

Halsey鈥檚 viewpoint contrasts with figures showing that unemployment nationwide is down to 4.9 percent. Median household income jumped last year to $56,500, the highest it has been since before the bottom fell out of the economy in 2008. The share of Americans living in poverty declined sharply last year to 13.5 percent. Home prices are rising again, and millions more people have health insurance.

But the rebound has been slow to reach some Americans, particularly in manufacturing and mining communities that have lost many jobs, said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody鈥檚 Analytics.

鈥淲e dug ourselves into such a deep hole early on in 2008, 2009 that we鈥檝e spent the last eight years really digging out of it,鈥� Zandi said. 鈥淏ut if you鈥檝e been struggling for more than a couple or three years, you begin to expect that that鈥檚 your world forever. You鈥檙e doomed and not only doomed, but your kids are doomed 鈥� and a lot of people are still stuck in that negative psychology.鈥�

The divide was spotlighted in a recent poll by the Pew Research Center, asking voters to compare their lives with those of people like them 50 years ago. When Trump supporters were asked that question, four in five said life in the US today is worse for people like them. A nearly equal number of voters backing Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton said life today is just as good or better.

鈥淭his is one of the core questions that speak to the current political environment,鈥� said Jocelyn Kiley, associate director of research for Pew. 鈥淧olitical divisions are about more than just political issues, but about perceptions of the state of the country.鈥�

Those disagreements don鈥檛 always fit old political pigeonholes. But people on both sides share a similar estrangement from traditional parties and politics.

Take Jerome Nichols, 68, a semi-retired accountant from Webster Groves, Missouri, who voted early for Clinton.

鈥淚 am a lifelong Republican, but I am sick to death of what has happened to my party,鈥� Nichols said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e just a bunch of haters.鈥�

Meanwhile Terry Wright, 59, a disabled union painter in Louisville and a registered Democrat backing Trump, says he has given up on his old party. Democrats backed immigration policies that have filled limited jobs with foreigners, and pushed for welfare programs that have knocked the ambition out of younger workers, he said.

Clinton 鈥渨ill be the damnation of America,鈥� he said.

With modern US presidential campaigns now stretching over two years, it鈥檚 hardly surprising that Americans are tired of the candidates and their commercials.

鈥淚鈥檓 ready for the election to be over because I鈥檓 sick of hearing about Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton and all the rhetoric,鈥� said Natalie Blair Pounds, 52, an auto mechanic in Denver, whose state is a battleground. 鈥淏ut just to be on the record, I鈥檓 voting for Hillary because I don鈥檛 like the things Donald has said. I don鈥檛 like the things Donald has done.鈥�

Voters鈥� intense negative feelings about Trump and Clinton may say as much about the times as the candidates, said David Greenberg, a professor of history at Rutgers University and author of 鈥淩epublic of Spin: An Inside History of the American Presidency.鈥�

鈥淭here鈥檚 something about the polarized climate that we鈥檙e in that leads us to feel these things more strongly, to regard the opposition with such hostility, to talk in terms of threats to the Republic, to say 鈥橪ock her up,鈥� in ways we wouldn鈥檛 have 30 years ago.鈥�

It鈥檚 a far cry from Ronald Reagan鈥檚 1984 message that it was 鈥渕orning in America.鈥� Or Barack Obama鈥檚 2008 call for 鈥淐hange We Can Believe In.鈥� Still, many voters continue to express faith that their voices can make a difference.

In Raleigh, North Carolina, Jaquelinne Murillo, a law student who entered the US from Mexico with her mother when she was 10 and became a US citizen in May, said she looked forward to rejecting Trump鈥檚 鈥渧ery hurtful鈥� portrayal of fellow immigrants as rapists and drug dealers.

鈥淚t really makes me really happy that this is going to be the first election that I can actually vote in. And I鈥檓 going to vote. There鈥檚 no way I won鈥檛,鈥� she said.

Others, though, are decidedly conflicted.

鈥淭his is really the only time that I can ever remember, in any voting that I鈥檝e ever done, where I was at a loss as to who I was going to vote for,鈥� said Diane Kekoolani Barrett, a self-declared Republican in Honolulu, Hawaii. As she exited the city hall last week after casting an early ballot, she couldn鈥檛 bring herself to name her choice for president. 鈥淚 kept thinking about that and, well, I hate to say it, I went with the lesser of two evils.鈥�