Congress is polarized and broken. But Americans are more united than you might think.
It is easy to assume that the polarization in Congress is a mirror of the American people. But Americans are much less polarized than Congress.
Americans are deeply frustrated with the government in Washington. They see many problems need addressing, but partisan polarization has created persistent gridlock.
Polling from Pew Research Center shows that polarization in Congress has reached a new zenith. Experts are concerned that public frustration has gotten so severe that democracy is at risk.
It is easy to assume that the polarization in Congress is a mirror of the American people – after all, Congress is elected by the people.
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But research we have done over many years with representative samples of Americans shows that the people are not the problem. In fact, the American people are much less polarized than Congress. There is extensive bipartisan common ground – far more than in Congress – and new methods of consulting the people provide a road map that can help lead us out of many legislative impasses.
Citizens come together to study issues
One of the challenges is that many Americans are not well-informed enough to give in-depth input on key issues that Congress faces. But there is a way through this.
At the Program for Public Consultation at the University of Maryland, we develop “policymaking simulations” that put citizens in the shoes of a policymaker. They get a briefing on policy options under consideration, evaluate pro and con arguments, and then make their recommendations. We field these nationally as online surveys with stratified random samples of voters. We also run these surveys with representative samples in congressional districts and then – working with Voice of the People, Civic Genius and local media – convene a forum with the congressional representative and constituents who took the survey to review the results and discuss the issues.
At the Center for Deliberative Democracy at Stanford University, voters receive briefings from experts and engage in small group discussions with other citizens, usually over the course of a weekend. We poll participants before and after going through this process and often find significant changes in their views as they get more information and a chance to deliberate.
In both cases, all of the content that citizens are presented is reviewed by opponents as well as proponents of the various proposals to ensure that the briefings are accurate and balanced, and that the best arguments are made on both sides.
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What is most striking is that these processes have revealed more than 170 policy positions that are supported by majorities of both Republicans and Democrats on a wide range of issues that Congress has gotten stuck on. These include health care, immigration, Social Security, the budget deficit, energy and the environment.
America Talks brings people together
The fact that there is underlying common ground is one of the reasons why when events like America Talks bring people together across the political divide, they find that Americans agree more than they might expect.
Naturally the question arises, how can this be? What drives Congress if not their voters?
The sad answer is that members of Congress are mostly hearing from special interests and their lobbyists, donors and self-selected citizens with strong opinions who are not necessarily representative of the people as a whole. They have no way to hear from the people as a whole.
It is easy for representatives to assume that because they were elected they must be in touch with the people and doing what their constituents want. But that’s not how Americans perceive it. In fact, Republicans, Democrats and independents say their elected representatives have a poor understanding of the views of the people they represent.
Americans see this as a violation of the social contract that goes back to the Founders and is a major contributor to the public’s lack of confidence in government and their declining confidence in democracy.
Americans overwhelmingly endorse efforts to use these new methods to consult the people on important issues facing government. The demand for public consultation is so great that voters say they would even cross party lines to vote for candidates who commit to using these methods.
Americans are optimistic that if Congress were to use these methods of public consultation enabling them to listen more closely to the people – as the Founders intended – they would be more likely to find common ground. Fortunately, our research says that they are right.
Steven Kull is director of the Program for Public Consultation of the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland. James Fishkin is director of the Center for Deliberative Democracy at Stanford University.