Kull Op-Ed Marks America’s 250th in USA Today
As America approaches its 250th anniversary, do our Founders’ ideals still guide our government? Most Americans don’t think so. In a new op-ed published in USA Today, Program for Public Consultation (PPC) Director, Dr. Steven Kull, explores findings from a national survey conducted by PPC in partnership with the University of Maryland’s Civic Innovation Center (CivIC). Nearly two in three Americans (63%) say that if the Founders could see today’s government, they would conclude it is doing a poor job fulfilling their vision.
The problem isn’t that Americans have abandoned the Founders’ ideals. It’s because they believe the government has drifted away from them. Just 22% say the government is run for the benefit of all the people, and six-in-ten say the public has less influence than the Founders intended.
But Americans also see a path forward. After considering arguments for and against, 85% favored elected leaders consulting the public through methods such as deliberative forums and public consultation surveys and taking the results into account. Nearly eight-in-ten said the Founders themselves would approve. Read the full Op-Ed
Common Ground Op-Ed in USA Today
Dr. Steven Kull also authored a second opinion piece in USA Today making the case for something PPC’s research has consistently demonstrated: that Americans are far less polarized than our political institutions.
Drawing on PPC’s latest national surveys, the piece refers to more than 100 policy positions that command majority support from both Republicans and Democrats, spanning issues as varied as prescription drug pricing, immigration reform, childcare affordability, housing and AI regulation. The findings pose a direct challenge to prevailing assumptions about the role of the public in driving partisan conflict.
“Our findings challenge one of the most powerful assumptions in contemporary political discourse: that the American public is driving polarization,” Dr. Kull writes.
The question PPC continues to raise is whether political institutions are prepared to act on the common ground that already exists. For more on bipartisan common ground among the American people, click here.
Two June Conversations on Democracy and Common Ground
Last month, Voice of the People (VOP) joined the Program for Public Consultation (PPC) and the University of Maryland’s Civic Innovation Center (CivIC) for two virtual events exploring how Americans view their country and finding common ground. In America at 250: Do Americans Think We Are Fulfilling the Founders’ Vision?, CNN CorrespondentTom Foreman, moderated a discussion with democracy experts Marjan Ehsassi,executive director of Federation for Innovation in Democracy, Larry Diamond, Mosbacher senior fellow of Global Democracy at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, and Paul Brown, University of Maryland Civic Innovation Center director, on new survey findings about public trust, citizen engagement, and how Americans think the nation is measuring up approaching its 250th anniversary. Read the full findings of America at 250 here. Click here to watch the full video.
VOP also co-hosted New Surveys Reveal Sweeping Bipartisan Agreement on Hotly Debated Issues: Will Policymakers Catch On?, a virtual briefing featuring Dr. Steven Kull, and Michelle Cottle, Opinion Writer for The New York Times, which was moderated by Richard Davies of How Do We Fix It? The event highlighted new national survey findings showing that majorities of Republicans and Democrats agree on more than a hundred specific policies, with more than two-thirds of both parties agreeing on over 80. The findings and conversation challenged the dominant narrative that Americans are hopelessly divided. Watch the Common Ground event here.
Together, these conversations underscored both the challenges facing American democracy and the opportunities to strengthen public trust, civic participation, and policymaking that better reflect the voices of everyday Americans. Thank you to our partners at PPC and CivIC as well as our moderators and panelists, for helping lead insightful discussions on the future of democratic governance in America.
New VOP Resource Highlights Bipartisan Common Ground Among Americans
Last week, VOP launched The National Common Ground 2026, a new interactive navigator highlighting areas where Americans agree across party lines. Drawing on national surveys conducted by the Program for Public Consultation (PPC) at the University of Maryland, as well as other independent polling, the project has identified more than 100 federal policies on which majorities of both Republicans and Democrats agree. On more than 80of those policies, more than two-thirds of both parties agreed.
While Congress is highly polarized, The National Common Ground offers a data-driven look at where widespread bipartisan public agreement exists, across a range of hotly debated issues – from costs of healthcare and housing to immigration, artificial intelligence, foreign policy, government reform. Explore the full findings here.
Promising Path Forward: Maryland Connecting Project
The Program for Public Consultation (PPC) and the University of Maryland’s Civic Innovation Center (CivIC) have partnered on a new initiative aimed at strengthening dialogue between Congressional representatives and their constituents. The project will conduct deliberative surveys of representative samples of constituents statewide and across Maryland’s eight Congressional districts on key policy issues before Congress. Respondents will go through policymaking simulations in which they will be informed about the issues, presented with real solutions under consideration, evaluate pro and con arguments and, finally, invited to provide their own policy recommendations. In-person forums will then bring constituents and their members of Congress together to discuss the results. Tested by PPC over two decades in red and blue districts across the country, this model offers a promising path forward for countering polarization and ensuring constituents feel heard.
Youth Council Launches Deliberative Democracy Hub
The Council of Europe Youth Department has launched a new resource hub featuring materials from its “Strengthening Democratic Resilience through Youth Engagement and Deliberative Democracy” initiative.
The collection includes recordings of recent discussions on deliberative democracy and youth citizens’ assemblies, along with recommended reading materials. A May webinar brought together nearly 100 participants from across Europe to explore how deliberative processes can strengthen youth engagement, highlighting lessons from youth assemblies focused on pollinators and climate justice.
Developed in partnership with DemNet, the initiative aims to provide practical guidance and resources for those working to expand youth participation in democratic decision-making. For more on the resource hub, click here.
The National Common Ground: Healthcare Costs
Healthcare remains one of the most debated issues in Washington, but findings from Voice of the People’s “The National Common Ground 2026” project shows agreement among majorities of Americans. Very large majorities of both Democrats and Republicans agree on numerous policies to lower the cost of prescription drugs and health insurance.
The strongest consensus emerges around prescription drug policies: 86% favor the government setting limits on drug prices based on the prices charged in other developed countries (which would cut them in half on average), including 90% of Republicans and 86% of Democrats. (PPC, February 2026). The 2022 Harvard Congressional Election Study found 86% in favor of allowing “the government to negotiate with drug companies to get a lower price on prescription drugs that would apply to both Medicare and private insurance.”
Agreement extends to policies to lower health insurance costs as well: 81% support renewing the enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies, including 73% of Republicans and 90% of Democrats (PPC, February 2026). A KFF survey from September 2025 showed similar public opinion, with 78% in favor of extending the enhanced ACA subsidies.
And a very large bipartisan majority favors expanding government health insurance options, by creating a government-run public option that would be available to all Americans (Democrats 86%, Republicans 76%). Similar findings were discovered in a Deliberative Democracy Lab survey in 2019, with 71% saying that, “Everybody should be able to buy a public plan like Medicare, the current plan for seniors over 65” (Democrats 84%, Republicans 59%).
For more information and more survey findings on healthcare and many other issues, visit The National Common Ground 2026.