Despite the feeling of some politicians and groups of partisans, Americans more than ever — by a whopping margin — want their leaders to compromise. A new Gallup Poll finds voters thirst for compromise has increased and they favor reaching across the aisle to come to consensus building solutions by a more than two to one margin:
At a time when disagreements and inability to reach consensus in Congress pose the threat of a federal government shutdown, Americans express an increasingly strong preference for their political leaders in Washington to compromise, rather than stick to their principles at the cost of getting nothing done.
This poll is particularly important, coming at a time when an asecending segment of the Republican Party — more than ever — rejects the idea of compromise and consensus and is poised to try and shut down the federal government if Obamacare isn’t defunded. And if that fails, members of the GOP have been suggesting they’ll let the country default on its debts unless some polities Republicans have been unable to get through by winning elections or building coalitions in Congress are allowed to go through.
The poll is particularly instructive because it shows a desire to compromise across the boards but highest in margin among Democrats, Independents, moderates and liberals than among Republicans and conservatives.
There continue to be significant partisan and ideological differences in Americans’ views on this philosophical issue. Democrats and liberals are most likely to come down on the “compromise” side of the scale — with more than six in 10 of each group placing themselves on that end of the scale.
Independents, moderates, and conservatives also tilt significantly toward compromise. Republicans are the most divided among the major political groups, with about as many preferring compromise as sticking to one’s beliefs.Notably, Americans who identify as Tea Party supporters are about as likely to favor compromise as sticking to core beliefs.
Gallup then lists the implications — and we should also add two others. First, Gallup:
The constitution does not dictate a way in which bodies of elected representatives are supposed to operate when it comes to reaching agreement on key policy issues. Clearly the Founding Fathers understood that House and Senate members, representing geographically and demographically diverse districts and states, would have widely differing views on important policy matters. Equally clearly, the Founders assumed that these members would in some fashion be able to reach agreement on making policies and passing laws without the machinery of government coming to a complete halt.
There has always been a fine line between a representative’s sticking to his or her principles in congressional debates and votes, and in some instances being willing to compromise those principles in order to reach an agreement. The American people at the moment clearly tilt toward the sentiment that their representatives — as a whole — should compromise on important matters, even if it means voting against a particular representative’s principles. Of course, these sentiments are measured in reference to Congress as a whole without respect to specific issues. It’s quite possible that Americans would feel their particular representative should not compromise on issues of great importance to them personally.
Congress continues to have very low approval ratings, and Gallup surveys show that the primary reason Americans give for their disapproval is indeed that Congress won’t compromise and manage to find agreement on issues. The current data suggest that if Congress is unable to find a way to avert a government shutdown or doesn’t deal with the debt ceiling, its approval rating has little chance of getting better, and a significant probability of dropping even lower.
And the other two implications of the poll are these:
Bottom line one: Republicans — particuarly Tea Party members, new media conservative bloggers, and members of the talk show political culture which includes talk show hosts and their fervent fans — are living in a politically dangerous bubble. The fact is, the bulk of Americans do not look upon favorably a behavior that shows not just a lack of a willingness to comrpomise but a disdain for something that for centuries was considered a “given” and strength of American politics.
Bottom line two: America’s political center seems all but dead when it comes to politicians willing to show some spine and not worry about being primaried and compromise.
But the center is alive and well among voters and a politician or political party that holds up a hand and gives voters insisting upon compromise a half a peace sign may do so at their own peril.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.