How ranked choice voting can help bring back democracy

Fair Vote -  A new poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center finds that Americans are overwhelmingly dissatisfied and pessimistic about democracy in the United States. Ranked choice voting  could reverse this trend. 

The poll finds that: 

• 53% of Americans believe Congress is not upholding democratic values, compared to 16% who believe it is doing a good job. 
• 53% believe that the government fails to recognize views from “people like you,” with only 12% saying they feel very or extremely well represented.
• Only 48% say that “what most Americans want” is actually important to how laws and policies are made  
• Only 10% say our democracy is working very or extremely well  

This disconnect between the American government and the public has left citizens disengaged. Tens of millions of Americans feel that our government is fundamentally unrepresentative or undemocratic. 

This is why RCV has become the fastest-growing nonpartisan voting reform in the nation. RCV ensures that winning candidates need both deep and broad support from constituents. It encourages politicians to engage with all citizens, since they need to gather support from outside their base to win. In other words, politicians are incentivized to “uphold democratic values” like majority rule, represent a wide range of constituents including “people like you,” and actually do “what most Americans want.” 

In a time of increasing polarization, RCV can also turn the heat down and improve the tenor of our politics. Research shows that voters in cities with RCV elections are more satisfied with the conduct of campaigns and perceive less negative campaigning than voters in cities without RCV. A 2021 study found that candidates in “RCV cities” are more likely to engage with one another relative to non-RCV cities.