Americans Value Political Pluralism

American politics feels increasingly divided. In Congress, bipartisanship continues to decline, while committee hearings frequently devolve into partisan bickering. Political forces on both sides of the aisle seek to purge dissent from our political debate and maintain ideological homogeneity. 

However, there were several campaigns this cycle, such as Rob Sand in Iowa and James Talarico in Texas, who talked about the value of political disagreement and the importance of political pluralism.

What about the American people? Do they believe in political tolerance? Last month, Searchlight asked voters a series of questions to get a sense of how they viewed their political opponents. 

In the first question, we asked voters: When someone disagrees with you on political issues you care about, why do you think they hold that view?

By a 22-point margin, the top choice was “They have different values or life experiences than I do (40%). The following options were “misled by biased media and misinformation,” followed by “They haven’t thought carefully about the issue (9%). Only 7% of voters said it was because they don’t care about other people as much as themselves. 

We also asked voters whether political discourse was enhanced by multiple opinions and perspectives. Overwhelmingly, the answer was yes.

Our last question got at a core tension in our political system: “Do people believe that their opponents value their side winning over what is best for their country?” This was the only question where Americans seemed to agree with the less politically tolerant answer. A plurality of respondents (45%) said most people with different views care more about winning than what is best for their country.

This research provides an important correction to the idea that American politics is eternally divided. Voters actually value public debate when it includes multiple viewpoints and a strong plurality of voters understand that the people they disagree with simply have different backgrounds and experiences. However, by a slim margin, voters do think their political priority is winning over improving the country. This could be reflective of signals they receive from political elites as well as a general fatalism towards positive political change.