Deseret News Americans Agree Way More Than You Think How Many Of Them

Leo Migdal

-Dec 3, 2025, 10:27 PM

deseret news americans agree way more than you think how many of them

“Who here is against clean water? Who is against good jobs?” asks Mariah Levison, CEO of the nonprofit Convergence, at events before suggesting, “Very few wake up in the morning wanting to make the world a worse place.” That’s far from the perception many Americans hold today. A record-high 80% of U.S. adults in a September 2024 Gallup poll believe Americans are “greatly divided on the most important values” (10 percentage points higher than a decade go). That kind of perceived division has been shown to exacerbate hostilities and “fuel distrust where common ground might otherwise be found among citizens,” summarizes Lawrence Torcello, professor at Rochester Institute of Technology.

The recent U.S. election might be the high-water mark for division in America this century, with 64% of Americans saying in a post-election survey that stress about recent results is impacting their holiday plans, with close to... “These times are feeling so divided, and it’s easy to forget how as Americans we share so many values,” says Beth Miller, Convergence executive vice president. It was this election hostility that prompted this organization to publish this week a new list of “10 Important Beliefs Most Americans Share.” She tells Deseret News, “We may have different ideas of how... Instead of showcasing agreements that are more obvious (“inflation is bad” ... “crime is bad” ...

“war is very bad”), they curated a list of agreements that may surprise us. We’ve added some context to their top 10: Convergence Center For Policy Resolution In a November 27th piece ahead of Thanksgiving, Jacob Hess followed and expanded on Convergence’s 2024 Gift: 10 Important Beliefs Most Americans Share. Hess captured the Convergence holiday spirit and included a hopeful quote from Convergence Executive Vice President, Beth Miller saying, “We may have different ideas of how to get there, but there’s so much we agree on and want to see happen.”

He also included Convergence CEO Mariah Levison’s inspiring and thoughtful quote: “Very few wake up in the morning wanting to make the world a worse place.” September 27, 2022 / 4:12 PM EDT / CBS News Nowadays, Americans seem to disagree on everything — even what our country stands for. But that's not true. On many issues — think spending, law enforcement, the military, even abortion — a majority of Americans are actually in agreement.

Here are 50 surprising topics where most Americans find common ground. We used YouGov polling data — surveys, polls, and trackers — to compile our list. All surveys took place between January 2022 to September 2022. For each survey, YouGov interviewed a mix of 1,500 people whose ages, genders, races and education levels correlated with the demographics of the greater U.S. population. So what is it that we Americans agree on?

The topics range from money (in lots of cases, money) to politics to food. And in every case, at least 60% of Americans were in agreement. Between school shootings, the COVID-19 pandemic, LGBTQ+ policies and controversies over race-based content taught in schools, U.S. teachers have been through a lot recently. And also: They're chronically underpaid. The United States presents a paradox: Though the media and public opinion suggest it is a nation deeply divided along partisan lines, surveys reveal that Americans share significant common ground on many core values...

As a political philosopher, I am deeply concerned about the perceived contrast between the public’s shared political concerns and the high level of polarization that is dividing the electorate. Despite the prevailing narrative of polarization, Americans frequently agree on essential issues. For instance, there is widespread support for high-quality health care that is accessible to all and for stronger gun-control regulations. Remarkably, many Americans advocate for both the right to bear arms and additional restrictions on firearms. There is strong support for fundamental democratic principles, including equal protection under the law, voting rights, religious freedoms, freedom of assembly and speech, and a free press. Director, American Communities Project, Michigan State University

Manager, American Communities Project, Michigan State University Dante Chinni receives funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for his work on the American Communities Project and is a contributor to the Wall Street Journal. Ari Pinkus receives funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for the American Communities Project. Michigan State University provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation US. WASHINGTON, D.C. — Eight in 10 U.S.

adults agree on a variety of issues that reflect core aspects of U.S. democracy. These include that using violence to achieve political goals is never OK; that elected leaders should compromise to get things done; and that having a mix of races, religions and cultures benefits the nation. Americans also express a desire to limit the political influence of wealthy individuals and businesses and believe there is a difference between facts and opinions. These findings are the first from the Kettering Foundation/Gallup Democracy for All Project and are based on a multimodal (web and mail) survey of over 20,000 U.S. adults, conducted July 7 to Aug.

25. This is a five-year project designed to measure Americans’ views of how well democracy serves the U.S. and Americans from a variety of different backgrounds. The full report details how Americans largely agree that democracy is the best form of government but do not believe it is functioning well right now. As part of the survey, Americans were shown five pairs of contrasting perspectives on how democracy and U.S. society should function and were asked to choose which perspective comes closer to their view.

Large majorities of all key subgroups of Americans reject violence, favor compromise and embrace a multicultural society. There are modest differences in some of these views by party, age and education. For example, Democrats, independents and college graduates are somewhat more likely than Republicans and non-college graduates to see multiculturalism as a strength. Older Americans and Democrats are more likely than younger Americans and Republicans to endorse compromise. Age differences are even more pronounced when it comes to rejecting the use of political violence, with senior citizens most opposed and young adults the least. This relationship will be explored in more depth in an article to be released next week.

Another question in the survey, asked on a five-point agree/disagree scale, finds that eight in 10 Americans strongly agree (39%) or agree (41%) that everyone, regardless of their views, has the right to free,... Just 5% disagree, and 15% are neutral. This certainly isn't the first time America has been in political crisis, but for many of us, the country has never been more bitterly divided in our lifetimes. Research has shown for years that we're so politically polarized, we essentially all live in separate realities. That makes it pretty difficult to find any common ground. It's fascinating, then, that a new poll has yielded results that fly in the face of this adversity.

The poll centered on Americans' feelings about the so-called American Dream and its future, and it revealed that we are all much more on the same page than any of us realizes. The poll was conducted by non-profit activist organization All Above All to take the temperature of not just the state of the "American Dream," but why people feel about it the way they do. To do so, they polled 1,000 registered voters and oversampled men aged 18-34. At first blush, that might seem like it would skew the results, but it's in many ways a better barometer of American politics than any other. From the "male loneliness epidemic" to the rise of extremist voices in the online "manosphere," men and their disillusionment are the primary political engine of this moment, and the 18-34 demographic of men specifically... Given the weighting, All Above All's polling results are not just fascinating, they are frankly shocking, flying directly in the face of everything we know and have been told about this American political moment...

Deseret News Americans Agree Way More Than You Think How Many Of Them

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