A House Reunited: Prospects for Bipartisanship in a Divided Country
This RAND Perspective examines how political polarization is undermining policy discourse by displacing data-driven analysis with ideology. Rather than treating events like the pandemic, the Capitol attack, or widespread protests as threats in themselves, the authors argue that the real danger lies in the absence of evidence-based solutions to the problems driving these events. The research team convened workshops bringing together participants with divergent political views to identify areas of consensus across four critical policy domains: mis- and disinformation, election security, extremism, and immigration reform. The report presents actionable solutions and identifies data sources for evaluating their effectiveness — demonstrating that common ground remains achievable even on the most polarized issues.