Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Survey finds most Americans favor ranked-choice voting

Rally for ranked-choice voting

People join a ranked-choice voting rally in Somerville, Mass., in November 2020.

Suzanne Kreiter/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

More than 60 percent of Americans favor using an alternative method of casting ballots known as ranked-choice voting for federal elections, according to polling data released Wednesday morning.

RCV, also known as an instant runoff election, has already been used statewide in Maine, for municipal elections in New York City and in more than 40 other jurisdictions. Alaska will use ranked-choice voting for the first-time this summer in a special election for a vacant seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

While there is a partisan divide over RCV, with 73 percent of Democrats and 55 percent of independents in favor of its use, virtually half (49 percent) of Republicans also support ranked elections, according to the poll, which was conducted by the University of Maryland's Program for Public Consultation and Voice of the People.


When conducting the survey, pollsters described ranked-choice voting and then presented arguments for and against. After taking respondents’ temperature on each of the arguments, they asked a final approve/oppose question, and 61 percent said they approve of RCV for federal elections with more than two candidates.

“As people tend to know ranked-choice voting more, they seem to like it more,” said Steven Kull, director of the Program for Public Consultation. “Resistance is rooted in unfamiliarity. This is particularly shown among Republicans.”

The survey presented three arguments in favor of ranked-choice voting and three against. Republican respondents found each of the pro-RCV statements more convincing than the anti-RCV statements, but Democrats responded more positively.

“I think Republicans are more conservative and more wary of new innovations. And Democrats are more inclined to try different things. It’s not that Republicans are opposed,” said Kull. “I don't see any evidence of there being an underlying resistance in principle. More of a wait-and-see stance.”

People who are younger, wealthier or college-educated were more likely to support RCV.

Made with Flourish

In addition, men (62 percent) and women (60 percent) approve of RCV at similar rates while 55 percent of both Black and Hispanic respondents said they approve along with 62 percent of white people.

In an RCV election, voters may rank multiple candidates. If no one receives a majority of first-choice votes, the person with the fewest is eliminated and their support is redistributed to voters’ second choice. That process continues until someone has a majority of the vote.

Proponents claim a number of advantages can be derived from RCV:

  • A candidate opposed by a majority of votes cannot win.
  • Voters are free to support the candidate they like best, rather than voting strategically to avoid helping a disliked candidate win. (This is known as the “spoiler effect.”)
  • Candidates may run more civil campaigns in an effort to secure high ballot positions from voters who may not be part of their main base of support.
  • Women and minorities have often performed better in ranked elections.

Nevertheless, previous studies have found that Americans prefer plurality elections, in which the candidate with the most votes wins, even without a majority of ballots cast.

But Kull believes that education about options is leading to a change in opinion.

“Other polls that have described it very briefly have not found majority support,” Kull said. “As people get to know more, they become more comfortable with it. They hear other people use it, they become more comfortable.”

One of the pro-RCV arguments explained RCV has been used in many cities and states and voters in those places have not made more errors than people using a standard pularility ballot. That proved to be the most persuasive argument, with 73 percent of respondents saying they found it very or somewhat convincing.

An explanation that described how RCV can lead to more diverse results was nearly as powerful.

Less than half of respondents found any of the anti-RCV arguments (the system can be confusing, people who don’t know enough about all the candidates have less of a say, there’s no need to change a successful system) convincing.

“There’s a movement toward acceptance of it,” Kull said.

The survey was conducted July 13-Sept. 15, 2021 of 1,296 registered voters. It has a margin of error of 2.7 percent.

Read the full report.

Read More

Kennedy Confirms Intent To Fund Head Start for FY26, but Illinois Providers Remain Concerned

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testifies in front of Congress, defending HHS FY26 budget. May 14, 2025.

Annabelle Gordon/UPI/REX/Shutterstock

Kennedy Confirms Intent To Fund Head Start for FY26, but Illinois Providers Remain Concerned

Testifying in front of Congress this May, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. assured lawmakers funding would not be cut for Head Start, a child care program that serves nearly 28,000 low-income children and families across Illinois.

Kennedy said during the meeting that he “fought very, very hard” to ensure Head Start would not be cut from next year’s budget. The Trump administration is committed to “preserving legacy programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Head Start as the foundation of the MAGA agenda,” he said. DHHS will work to ensure Head Start “continues to serve its 750,000 children and parents effectively.”

Keep ReadingShow less
D-Day Proclamation Day: Honoring Sacrifice, Reflecting on History

Written in the sand the date of the landing of Normandy on the same beach where the troops landed on D-day.

Getty Images, Carmen Martínez Torrón

D-Day Proclamation Day: Honoring Sacrifice, Reflecting on History

June 6 marks D-Day Proclamation Day, a time to solemnly commemorate the historic landings in Normandy, France, on June 6, 1944. On this day, we honor the extraordinary bravery and sacrifices of the Allied forces, whose decisive actions helped liberate Europe and turn the tide of World War II.

D-Day was a pivotal moment in history—the beginning of the Allied effort to reclaim Western Europe from Nazi control. Over 156,000 troops from the United States, Britain, Canada, and other nations stormed the beaches of Normandy in Operation Overlord, an unprecedented amphibious assault that ultimately shaped the course of the war. Though the battle came at a great cost, it remains a lasting symbol of courage, resilience, and the fight for freedom.

Keep ReadingShow less
English as the New Standard: Understanding Language Policies Under Trump

Writing "learn english"

Getty Images//Stock Photo

English as the New Standard: Understanding Language Policies Under Trump

English as the Official Language of the U.S.

On March 1st, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order declaring English as the official language of the United States. This marks the first time the country has ever designated an official language in its nearly 250-year history. Currently, thirty states have already established English as their official language, with Alaska and Hawaii recognizing several native languages as official state languages in addition to English.

Keep ReadingShow less
Blank Checks and Empty Promises: The Collapse of Congressional Fiscal Power

A politician counting money in front of the US Capitol Building.

Getty Images, fStop Images - Antenna

Blank Checks and Empty Promises: The Collapse of Congressional Fiscal Power

From Governing to Grandstanding

There was a time—believe it or not—when Congress actually passed budgets the old-fashioned way: through debate, compromise, and the occasional all-night session, not theatrics designed to appeal to cable news and social media. The process, while messy, followed a structure: hearings, markups, votes, and compromises. That structure—known as regular order—wasn’t just congressional tradition. It was the scaffolding of democratic accountability. It has also been steadily torn down.

Deadlines and dysfunction better define today’s Congress. Instead of the back-and-forth of healthy deliberation, Congress relies on continuing resolutions and last-minute omnibus bills. Budget gimmicks that were once used only during fiscal emergencies—backloaded cuts, timing shifts, reconciliation sleight-of-hand—are now the rule, not the exception. Congress has shifted from prioritizing policy to prioritizing the message and crafting political narratives.

Keep ReadingShow less