United across the partisan divide

 
Photo courtesy of Alexander Julian via Unsplash (Creative Commons license)

Photo courtesy of Alexander Julian via Unsplash (Creative Commons license)

 

by Alyson Clary and Craig Helmstetter

United across the partisan divide

In our highly polarized society, is there anything that we can agree on? As it turns out, the answer is: Yes, quite a lot.

We live in a hyper-partisan era marked by ever-increasing political polarization. This is the message we, as Americans, seem to be constantly receiving. Our party allegiances largely foretell whom we choose to marry, where we live, and what we eat. 

Since so much news is framed as a partisan battle, you might be asking yourself: “Do Republicans and Democrats agree on anything?”

That is exactly the question we were asking ourselves. Being who we are, and working where we do, we turned to the data. While the partisan divide among Americans may be as wide as ever, that split might best be described as existing in the top few layers of soil, under which lies a deeper bedrock of consensus; Republicans and Democrats still find agreement on a surprising range of topics.

According to a July 2019 Quinnipiac Poll, Republicans and Democrats agree that the breakdown of civility in politics is a serious problem (even though they differ on whom to blame). A majority of Americans from both parties also agree that they are exhausted by the news. Maybe it’s not so surprising that Republicans and Democrats agree on these general “mood of the country” type questions. But what about policy issues, especially those thorny topics typically framed as the most divisive, including guns, abortion, and healthcare?

The examples highlighted in the graph below emerged from a list of 60+ examples that we compiled. In our analysis, we have included policy-related opinions that are supported by half or more of those affiliated with each major party.

 

National surveys show that a majority of Republicans and Democrats agree on many public policy issues

% SUPPORT/AGREE
Source: APM Research Lab analysis of polls various national surveys conducted between conducted between 2014 and 2019.
Note: The questions presented in this graph are paraphrases of the original survey questions that the APM Research Lab analyzed. Click here for links to the original survey data (and questions) from each poll.

Americans largely back gun safety measures

The debate around gun rights and gun control is one of the most impassioned in American politics, and it has been for decades. Calls for sensible gun reform reemerge after each new mass shooting followed by pushback from staunch defenders of the Second Amendment. Too often this debate is cast as a stalemate between two intractable camps, but public opinion suggests there is far more opportunity for progress than the traditional narrative allows.

In our recent nationally representative survey, the APM Research Lab found bipartisan support for several gun safety measures. When asked if they supported family-initiated Extreme Risk Protection Orders (“Red Flag” laws), 70% of Republicans and 85% of Democrats agreed. Similarly, 68% of Republicans and 88% of Democrats supported mandating locked gun storage. A recent Quinnipiac University survey revealed that 69% of Republicans and 95% of Democrats support a requirement to obtain a license before all gun purchases (see graph above). There is not an unbridgeable partisan divide between Americans that hampers movement on the issue of gun control, but there is a deeply partisan division within Congress (and the outside groups that wield tremendous influence there).

Abortion not as stark a divide as media coverage often depicts

As recently highlighted by Vox, abortion is a highly divisive issue with an enormous influence on electoral politics. In May 2019, for example, Alabama signed into law a highly restrictive abortion ban, with the intended effect of presenting a legal challenge to Roe v. Wade before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Recent survey results, however, demonstrate that the issue of abortion does not represent as stark a partisan divide. For example:

Thus, while it is easy to oversimplify Republicans as uniformly opposed to abortions, there is some ground for agreement with Democrats.

Strong agreement on drug costs, science and NATO

There is particularly strong agreement across party lines when it comes to the following issues: allowing the federal government to negotiate a lower price for prescription drugs for seniors; confidence in scientists to act in the best interests of the public; and a belief that NATO membership is beneficial to the U.S. These issues have both the highest baseline levels of support and the smallest gap between levels of party support (see graph above).

These issues are not perceived as traditionally polarizing but the bipartisan agreement on them is striking considering their contentiousness on Capitol Hill. A storm is currently brewing in the House, for example, over legislation to lower drug prices, particularly on the issue of how much power to give Medicare in those negotiations.

U.S. membership in NATO and the role of scientists in informing public policy are often part of the news cycle. This is in large part due to President Trump and his administration’s skeptical, if not antagonistic, stance on these two issues. Trump has particularly taken issue with NATO’s funding. Contrary to the President’s view, Americans from both parties overwhelmingly agree that NATO membership benefits the country (71% of Republicans and 82% of Democrats), according to a recent Pew survey.

President Trump is vocal in his skepticism of climate change (repeatedly calling global warming a “hoax”), but more quietly the current administration has weakened the role of scientists in informing public policy. On the issue of trusting scientists, however, the President is not in step with the American public. In early 2019 a Pew survey found that 82% of Republicans and 91% of Democrats share confidence in scientists to act in the public’s interest.

Is Congress listening?

If there are such significant areas of bipartisan agreement, why has it not necessarily given rise to legislation that reflects these shared views? George Gallup (yes, of the Gallup Poll), believed that opinion polling was a means of listening to the will of the people. So why does it feel so often like those in positions of power aren’t really listening?

Although polling almost certainly influences the legislative process, the nature of that influence is far from direct. Some politicians explicitly reject the notion that polling should play an important role in their decision-making; others acknowledge that it does play a part. But polls are simply one influence among many.

Legislators weigh their personal views, special interest pressures, monied interests, campaign promises, “horse-trading” and caucus strategy, in addition to public opinion. Moreover, even if national opinion favors a specific policy position, districts or states may oppose that position or vice versa. And, on the flip side, popular opinion does not outrank constitutional rights, as decided by the courts.

It is important for politicians to listen to the constituents they serve, and our democracy allows us to voice when we feel we are not being heard. The big takeaway from this article, though, is that the opposing political camps in our supposedly hyper-partisan nation actually share a measure of common ground. It is important that the constant drum beat of “a nation divided” does not distract us from the bedrock of agreement that unites us.

-Alyson and Craig (@c_helmstetter)

Are you surprised by these numbers? Do you know of a point of agreement that we’ve missed? Please email us your reactions or join the conversation on Twitter or Facebook.

B Clary