.webp)
We recently released our latest Independent Center national poll of voters including a section about our current voting system and political involvement options.
The results weren’t very surprising.
When asked about the current political climate in America, 83 percent of people said we could do better. Only nine percent thought we were doing just fine. A similar 82 percent thought that federally elected officials in Washington, DC, could do better at their job. That’s some significant dissatisfaction with the status quo. So, we dug deeper.
When asked, “Do you feel that America is good with the two-party system, or should we have more than the two-party options to choose from?” Fifty-six percent of voters said, “We should have more options to choose from.” Only 27 percent thought the two-party system was working “just fine.” It should be a real shock to the incumbent system that the majority of the American people want more than what the stagnant status quo is offering them.
When asked, “Are you good with either a Republican or Democrat representing your congressional district, or would you like to see more Independent/third-party candidates promoted as viable options?” Again, 56 percent responded, “We can do more options.” Americans are tired of the same old same old status quo that simply doesn’t get the job done. Only 27 percent of respondents were satisfied with the two-party system.
Over half of Americans are unsatisfied with the status quo, so we asked, “Do you think the current primary system run by the Republican and Democratic parties is a good system to determine the best candidates for office, or do you think we could have a better system in place?” A whopping majority of 65 percent said, “We could do better,” compared to the 25 percent satisfied with the current system. Again, a majority of folks think the status quo is poor at providing voters with real options for which to vote.
When asked about Ranked Choice Voting and Majority Voting systems, voters had less strong opinions. When asked, “Do you think that our current ‘traditional’ voting system works fine, or should we try something like ‘majority voting’ where voters rank their support of candidates in a system that ensures the winning candidate is supported by a majority of voters?” 39 percent of voters were satisfied with the traditional system, and 48 percent thought, “We could use a system where our candidates are supported by a majority of voters.”
When asked directly about ranked-choice voting vs. traditional voting, the results flipped. Forty-seven percent of voters thought traditional voting was just fine, whereas 37 percent were open to RCV.
This shouldn’t be surprising. Most people haven’t heard of Ranked Choice Voting and it’s uncommon for voters to consider different voting systems. What it shows is that there is room for voter education in different options. People are fed up with the results we are seeing in Washington and think we need more options. A significant plurality, and possibly a majority with more education, are interested in a majority vote system like RCV.
Equally, with more education, there are enough unsure voters that could come around to the idea of RCV and bring it to majority support. Regardless, the people think the status quo sucks; they want more options, more accountability, and more elected officials doing a better job.
