Scientists have found that even in the Era of extreme polarization, Pennsylvania changed their opinions and became more certain of American democracy.
According to data published on Wednesday, researchers of the Stanford University discovered that Pennsylvania, who participated in focus groups and surveys as part of the study on the subject of democracy and public opinion They changed their minds about some policies of immigration, elections and education after they received sustainable information and allowed them to discuss topics with people they did not agree with.
The study was conducted at voters in the largest country in the country, a few months after all eyes were in Pennsylvania during the presidential election. Scientists have found that the participants were selected to create an right electorate sample in Pennsylvania.
Participants left the study that reported higher satisfaction with the state of American democracy and greater respect for people with various opinions.
“When Pennsylvania received a space to the informed, civil conversation, they consistently depolarized in matters that dominate the narratives of cable messages as hopeless partisan battles,” said James Fishkin, a session director of the Stanford Democracy Laboratory in a statement. “This experiment proves that American divisions and opinions are not as difficult as they might seem.”
This opportunity for discussion appeared in a very controlled environment except what most American voters meet regularly.
Last month, scientists from the Democracy Set Laboratory gathered 175 Pennsylvania in Philadelphia to hear from public officials and discuss controversial political issues in miniature groups as part of the “America in One Room: Pennsylvania” project. The research came from Pennsylvania and in the political and socio -economic spectrum.
Participants received the same 65-asked survey before and after the event, and scientists studied how the answers changed.
Kyle Taylor, a 32-year-old from Pittsburgh, said that he felt less satisfied with the state of democracy after he learned more about political systems and interrogation directly from politicians. But Taylor said his eyes were open to challenges in his whole condition. He said that his opinions on healthcare have evolved, learning about the problems at rural Pennsylvania. And his position on immigration has changed to become less supporting growing visas for highly qualified employees.
He said he regrets that politicians would spend more time listening to discussions like those he had.
“I thought that people should do this much more. I think it would be perfect for our senators and representatives and things to see how some of these things live whenever it was time to vote in serious matters,” said Taylor, a registered democrat who claims to be considered independent.
According to the results of the percentage of participants who stated that they were dissatisfied with the state of American democracy, it fell from 75% to 54% after presentations and discussions. Similarly, at the end of the event, 91% of participants stated that they respect the opposite points of political view, compared to 72% earlier.
Participants have also moved to several individual political issues, with increased support for adopting the rules to ensure that everyone who wants to vote can do it in order to obtain more stringent rules for identifying voters and augment the number of visas provided to employees with low qualification.
Support has fallen in terms of rules providing green cards to all graduates who are not American universities, rent control and free tuition fee in college.
Amy Kilgore, a 62-year-old Democrat from Armstrong, said that she had left a skeptical event, that minds have changed significantly, or that the experiment would affect politicians already in office.
However, she noticed the shock and empathy she received when she explained her own economic realities, earning less than USD 10 per hour for decades and unable to afford well food, such as fruit and vegetables.
“Maybe they saw that I’m not just a lazy democrat, I care about my family,” she said. “They were definitely nice. I see where maybe this convinced people a bit.”
