SOTU 2023: Speaking to the Exhausted Majority

Speaking to the Exhausted Majority

More in Common conducted a national survey in the week following the November 2022 midterm elections to better understand how the President and the GOP-appointed spokesperson can speak to America’s Exhausted Majority.

Many in the Exhausted Majority felt their vote in 2022 was merely defensive – about stopping a negative vision from advancing rather than about bringing forward something positive. They feel both parties do not listen enough to regular Americans and that too often the political conversation is about attacking the other side rather than affirming their own side’s goals, priorities and values. The report shows that Americans are eager for a departure from the ‘us versus them’ narratives that dominate politics in the current era.

Key Findings:

• Americans remain highly negative; hope and appetite for compromise have fallen since 2018.
• Americans are weary of a hostile, antagonistic political climate.
• Republicans and Democrats are critical of the conduct of their parties.
• Republicans and Democrats grossly overestimate the differences in policy priorities between parties.
• However, there is ample opportunity for a better path forward.