It is a common refrain to say that Americans need to find common ground across the political spectrum.
Over the past year, AllSides and More Like US found >700 instances of common ground on political topics, revealed in Similarity Hub. It highlights public opinion data from Gallup, Pew Research, YouGov, and many other reputable polling firms.
Similarity Hub reveals perspective overlaps between Democrats and Republicans and points of agreement on political issues among supermajorities of Americans. It is organized into more than 20 issue areas, including hot-button topics such as abortion, immigration, elections, and media bias. Over the past year, there have been over 13,000 views of Similarity Hub.
Similarity Hub is a collaboration between AllSides, a provider of balanced news and 2,400 media bias ratings, and More Like US, a nonprofit that increases trust across the U.S. political spectrum. The tool shows Americans are actually more similar to each other across the political spectrum than is often believed, revealing opportunities for political progress.
Everyday Americans and those in many professions find value in Similarity Hub, including journalists, educators, those in the arts, and leaders in civics, politics, and religious communities.
“Politicians and news media on both sides mislead us into thinking that there is no common ground and that the other side is radically different from us,” said John Gable, co-founder and CEO of AllSides Technologies, Inc. “That is just wrong. By showcasing how much we agree, AllSides and More Like US combat misinformation and false belief, and give us all the ability to better understand reality and come together to solve problems.”
Gable and others hope that Similarity Hub will help close the “Perception Gap” among Americans.
The term “Perception Gap” was coined from a More in Common study that found both Democrats and Republicans, to roughly similar degrees, think those in the other party are more politically extreme than they really are. The Perception Gap is dangerous because it can feed into an idea that “our side” must “win at all costs,” even leading to actions that put the country’s system of government and/or safety at risk.
Correcting the Perception Gap has been found to be effective — it accounted for the majority of the best-performing interventions that reduced anti-democratic attitudes, partisan animosity, and support for political violence in the Strengthening Democracy Challenge, led by Stanford University.
Common ground is everywhere, across all hot-button topics. In terms of foreign policy, a YouGov poll from this February found majorities of Democrats and Republicans agreed with the arguably more liberal position that “the U.S. government should provide aid to foreign countries for disaster response." Yet a Pew Research poll from last year also found that majorities in each party agreed with the potentially more conservative position that "taking measures to protect the U.S. from terrorist attacks should be a top priority in U.S. long-range foreign policy."
Researchers and experts focused on reducing political divides have issued praise for Similarity Hub, including:
- James Druckman, co-principal investigator of the Strengthening Democracy Challenge and professor of political science at the University of Rochester, who calls Similarity Hub “a vital resource.”
- Cheryl Graeve, national organizer and program director at the National Institute for Civil Discourse, who says, “I'm hopeful it will help us narrow these Perception Gaps.”
- Dannagal G. Young, professor of communication and political science and international relations and director of the Center for Political Communication at the University of Delaware, who states, “My hope is this resource might facilitate the kind of journalism that diffuses, rather than reinforces, partisan identity and partisan divides."
Academics and various organizations plan to test the impact of using Similarity Hub data for various use cases. Professor Myiah Hutchens at the University of Florida is testing the impacts of integrating Similarity Hub data into sample newspaper articles. Partners such as Trusting News are planning to make journalists aware of Similarity Hub and how easy it is to use. This effort aims to give Americans more accurate views of each other that include overlaps when consuming news, rather than a distorted sense of endless division.
Republicans and Democrats have a surprising amount of common ground, and Similarity Hub is allowing the American public to see exactly how much.
Andrew Weinzierl is Research Manager & Data Journalist for AllSides.
James Coan is the co-founder and executive director of More Like US. Coan can be contacted at James@morelikeus.org
Correction: A previous version of this story stated that AllSides and More Like US found 550 instances of common ground on political topics when both organizations have now found >700 instances.
