America in One Room: Democratic Reform
The Stanford Deliberative Democracy Lab, in collaboration with Helena and various partners, has conducted a national Deliberative Poll® to determine what Americans would really think about possible reforms to our democracy and our electoral processes if they had a chance to weigh the options under good conditions. This project received crucial support from Porticus, the Skoll Foundation, the Thiry-O’Leary Foundation, and other donors.
What would Americans really think if they could discuss the issues in depth in moderated small group discussions with fellow citizens, if they had access to vetted and balanced briefing materials, and if they could get their questions answered by panels of competing experts representing different points of view? While many commentators think that our political differences are intractable, particularly on issues of how to conduct our elections or how to change our democracy, the results detailed below show many significant changes toward bipartisan agreement, even on the most contentious issues.