Purple Points of Agreement
Despite all our talk of individualism, though, most Americans support a strong welfare state. That support does not fade during economic downturns. A majority of us believe that we are spending too little to help the poor and that the government should be responsible for ensuring everyone has health coverage. Most Democrats and Republicans oppose funding cuts to Social Security, education and unemployment. In a 2012 poll, a majority of Americans said that they wanted the government to do more to prevent foreclosures during the housing crisis. ‘‘The American public consistently expresses a desire for more government effort and higher levels of spending for almost every aspect of the welfare state,’’ Martin Gilens, a political scientist, wrote.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/05/26/magazine/coronavirus-milwaukee-unemployment-jobs.html
Biden Should Go Big, and Then Brag About It, Bryce Covert. “Voters in both red and blue states have revealed what they want from government.”
Build on Common Ground, The Editorial Board. “There is progress to be made on policies most Americans support.”
A majority of Republicans, Democrats, and Independents agree on the following.
Education
College education is too expensive, and states should do more to “help people afford a college education without getting buried in debt.”
A new poll suggests a winning message for Democrats in 2020
Taxes
“Rich families and corporations should pay a lot more in taxes than they do today, and middle-class families should pay less.”
Reduce inequality with a 2 percent “wealth tax” on net worth in excess of $50 million.
A new poll suggests a winning message for Democrats in 2020
Health Insurance
People who don’t receive health insurance from an employer should be allowed to buy into a public plan, and pharmaceutical companies should be “penalized” if drug prices increase faster than the rate of inflation.
A new poll suggests a winning message for Democrats in 2020
Abortion
“In some circumstances in which a woman may choose to end a pregnancy, majorities of Americans — Democrats and Republicans — are on the same side, sometimes supporting the legality of the procedure and sometimes not.”
”Candidates Fight Over Abortion, but Public Has Surprising Level of Harmony”
Campaign Spending,
in a June 2015 article, “Americans’ Views on Money in Politics,” The New York Times reported:
With near unanimity, the public thinks the country’s campaign finance system needs significant changes. There is strong support across party lines for limiting the amount of money individuals can contribute to political campaigns, limiting the amount of money groups not affiliated with candidates can spend, and requiring unaffiliated groups to publicly disclose their donors if they spend money during a political campaign.
77% of the public says “there should be limits on the amount of money individuals and organizations” can spend on political campaigns.
Specifically, the following percentages of Republicans agreed with the following:
76 percent of Republicans opposed to the Supreme Court ruling in the Citizen United case to allow unlimited corporate spending in federal campaigns.
72 percent of Republicans favor limiting the amount of money individuals and organizations can spend on campaigns and issues.
80 -- Thinking about the role of money in American political campaigns today, ...money has too much influence.
85 -- Candidates who win public office promote policies that directly help the people and groups who donated money to their campaigns … most of the time (54) [or] sometimes (31).
81 -- There are some good things in the system for funding political campaigns but fundamental changes are needed (45). The system for funding political campaigns has so much wrong with it that we need to completely rebuild it (36).
71 -- Limiting the amount of money individuals can contribute to political campaigns.
73 -- [Limit spending] on advertisements during a political campaign [by] groups not affiliated with a candidate.
76 -- [Require] groups not affiliated with a candidate that spend money during political campaigns...to publicly disclose their contributors.
55 -- Wealthy Americans have more of a chance to influence the elections process than other Americans.
Concerning that study, the Sunlight Foundation highlighted, “Seventy-six percent of respondents (including identical shares of Republicans and Democrats) say money has a greater role in politics than in the past.”
Climate Change
As reported by Naomi Klein in This Will Change Everything (p. 118), in 2010 Public Opinion Strategies found that three-quarters of voters, including a vast majority of Republicans, supported a plan that “would make oil and gas companies pay for the pollution they cause,… encourage the creation of new jobs and new technologies in cleaner energy…., [and] protect working families, so it refunds all of the money it collects directly to the American people, like a tax refund, and most families end up better off.”
Criminal Justice Reform
In 2015 the ACLU reported:
Republicans and Democrats alike say that communities will be safer when the criminal justice system reduces the number of people behind bars and increases the treatment of mental illness and addiction, which are seen as primary root causes of crime…. In a sharp shift away from the 1980s and 1990s, when incarceration was seen as a tool to reduce crime, voters now believe by two-to-one that reducing the prison population will make communities safer by facilitating more investments in crime prevention and rehabilitation strategies.
According to that study, 54% of Republicans say it’s important for the country to reduce its prison populations. Eighty-seven percent of all respondents agree that drug addicts and those with mental illness should not be in prison. Given the size of that super-majority, presumably a majority of Republicans agreed as well.
Job Creation Programs
A 2013 Gallup poll found:
Americans widely support each of three job creation proposals, including offering tax breaks to businesses that create jobs in the U.S. and a program that would put people to work on urgent infrastructure repair projects. Support for these programs is only slightly lower in a variant of the question that asks respondents if they are in favor of spending government money to pay for the programs.
Specifically, 63% of Republicans supported “a federal government program that would put people to work on urgent infrastructure repairs” and 56% support “a federal jobs creation law designed to create more than 1 million new jobs.” When government spending is mentioned, Republican support for those proposals declined to 53% and 52%.
Increase “good jobs” with a $1 trillion investment in infrastructure, including both roads and “expanded production of green energy.”
A new poll suggests a winning message for Democrats in 2020
Military Spending
In 2016 the Center for Public Integrity reported that in 2012 “two-thirds of Republicans and nine in 10 Democrats supported making immediate cuts.” With voters surveyed between December 2015 and February 2016, “50 percent of Republicans favored decreasing spending or keeping it the same, and 48 percent favored increasing it.”
A 2014 Pew study found that 52 percent of Republicans do not believe military strength is the best way to ensure peace.
Corporate Welfare
A 2011 Rasmussen Reports survey found that just 15% of likely U.S. voters believed the federal government should continue to provide funding for foreign countries to buy military weapons from U.S. companies. Seventy percent opposed this funding to promote U.S. arms sales. Given the size of that super-majority, presumably a majority of Republicans agreed as well.
Immigration
A 2014 Pew study found that 54 percent of Republicans do not believe immigrants are burdening the country by taking jobs, housing, and health care from Americans.
Homosexuality
A 2014 Pew study found that only 43 percent of Republicans still agree with 22 percent of Democrats that "homosexuality should be discouraged by society."
Social Security
A 2014 Pew study found that 65% of Republicans support making Social Security sound. And 67% of all Americans oppose benefit cuts. Given the size of that super-majority, presumably a majority of Republicans agreed as well.
Medicare
A 2014 Pew study found, “Even among consistent conservatives, there is minimal support for the government having absolutely no role in providing health care. Three-quarters of consistent conservatives (75%) say the government should continue Medicare and Medicaid while just 20% think the government should not be involved in providing health insurance.”
Elected Officials
Concerning the 2014 Pew Study, the Sunlight Foundation highlighted these findings:
77 percent say elected officials lose touch with their constituents.
74 percent say elected officials don’t care what people like me think
74 percent say elected officials put their own interests first
Top Priorities
In “Democrats and Republicans Agree on More Than You Think & Why That Matters for 2016, “ William A. Galston wrote:
a closer analysis of the Pew data reveals that in addition to these partisan agendas, there is an American Agenda of “top priorities” supported by majorities of Republicans, Democrats, and Independents and by a super-majority (60% or more) of all Americans. Ranked in order of overall support, they are:
