Video designed to reduce toxic polarization between Democrats and Republicans named a top intervention by the Strengthening Democracy Challenge at Stanford University

The video developed by Beyond Conflict and its research partners had the biggest impact in reducing support for political violence, and was among only three interventions to also significantly reduce anti-democratic attitudes and partisan animosity among Americans on a nationwide basis.

In 2020, Beyond Conflict’s research revealed that Democrats and Republicans grossly overestimated the gap between them on major issues as well as feelings of like and dislike. The degree of these misperceptions was found to be responsible for outcomes that are harmful to American democracy, including: support for actions that benefit one’s political party at the expense of the country, lower levels of trust in the country’s civic institutions, and a growing discomfort with, and isolation from, members of the other party. 

Following the release of the America’s Divided Mind report in 2020, Beyond Conflict and its research partners at the University of Illinois Chicago and the University of Pennsylvania developed a video designed to correct these misperceptions. The video, which features everyday Americans from across the country, was named one of the most effective tools to reduce support for political violence, anti-democratic attitudes and animosity across partisan lines. The competition was carried out by the Strengthening Democracy Challenge, run by the Polarization and Social Change Lab at Stanford University, which reviewed 252 submissions from around the world and chose 25 finalists for further analysis.

In the video, Democrats and Republicans rate their own views on divisive issues, such as immigration, and then guess how an average member of the other party would answer the same question. When the answers, taken from the previous America’s Divided Mind survey, were revealed, participants react with surprise as they learn how wrong their assumptions were. “There’s so much more overlap in our views than I think we realize,” said one participant.

The Strengthening Democracy Challenge evaluated the video’s effectiveness through a nationally representative study, finding that the video was the most impactful intervention to reduce support for political violence and was among the top five interventions in reducing partisan animosity and anti-democratic attitudes. Among all of the entries tested, this video was one of only three to affect all three outcomes.

Core contributors to the intervention include Samantha Moore-Berg (University of Pennsylvania), Michael Pasek (University of Illinois Chicago), Rebecca Littman (University of Illinois Chicago), Nour Kteily (Northwestern University), Roman Gallardo (University of Chicago), filmmaker Wayne Price (RoomTone), and Beyond Conflict.