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webTangentially relevant to AI safety governance discussions; illustrates deliberative methods for building consensus on contested policy issues, which may inform approaches to AI governance and multi-stakeholder alignment processes.
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Importance: 28/100organizational reportnews
Summary
A 2023 Deliberative Polling project by Helena and Stanford's Deliberative Democracy Lab surveyed a representative sample of Americans on democratic reform issues, finding that structured cross-party deliberation significantly reduced political polarization. After deliberations, participants showed increased bipartisan support for voting rights restoration, online voter registration, ranked choice voting, and other reforms, while overall dissatisfaction with democracy dropped 18 percentage points.
Key Points
- •Overall dissatisfaction with U.S. democracy dropped 18 points after deliberation, with Republican dissatisfaction falling 31 points.
- •Support for restoring voting rights to citizens with felony convictions rose nearly 17 points to 67%, with Republicans shifting from 35% to 58%.
- •Support for online voter registration rose from 45% to 65% and automatic voter registration from 48% to 56% after cross-party dialogue.
- •91% of participants post-deliberation agreed that anyone who wants to vote should be allowed to, demonstrating strong convergence.
- •The project demonstrates that structured deliberation can reduce polarization on contentious democratic reform issues ahead of major elections.
Cited by 1 page
| Page | Type | Quality |
|---|---|---|
| AI-Assisted Deliberation | Approach | 63.0 |
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# Deliberative Poll on Democratic Reform from Helena and The Stanford Deliberative Democracy Lab Demonstrates Depolarizing Power of Cross-Party Discourse Ahead of 2024 Election
Press Release
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_Data from A1R: After deliberation, 91% of those polled believe anyone who wants to vote should be allowed to._
**Stanford, CA – August 10, 2023 –** In June 2023, [Helena](https://helena.org/), a global problem-solving organization, and [The Stanford Deliberative Democracy Lab (DDL)](http://deliberation.stanford.edu/) convened the third installment of _America in One Room (A1R)_, a Deliberative Polling ® project designed to explore Americans’ perspectives on some of our country’s most contentious issues. Through repeated executions, _A1R_ has provided a forum for respectful, nuanced, and evidence-based dialogue among diverse cross-sections of the American public. At [a moment of historically low public trust in](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2022/06/06/public-trust-in-government-1958-2022/) [government](https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2022/06/06/public-trust-in-government-1958-2022/), this year’s project focused on pulsing a scientifically accurate sample set of the American electorate for their opinions on democratic reform initiatives including voter access and voting protections, non-partisan election administration, protecting against election interference, Supreme Court reform, and more. Results showed increased movement toward bipartisan support on a set of previously polarizing issues that are already beginning to drive political debates and candidate platforms as we head into Election 2024.
Before deliberations, participants across party lines reported feeling dissatisfied with the way democracy is working in the U.S., with 65% of Democrats, 81% of Republicans, and 72% of participants overall reporting dissatisfaction. However, deliberating together abou
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