On Our Minds Now

Welcome to our blog! We’re excited to introduce this forum for sharing timely news and perspectives from the Democracy Fund Voter Study Group.

When the Voter Study Group launched following the 2016 election, our goal was to better understand the American electorate — to figure out what voters want and how their views and policy preferences change over time, in order to help explain past elections and anticipate elections to come. This understanding is vital to policymakers, and the journalists and thought leaders who help hold them to account.

Since 2016, we’ve conducted four waves of the VOTER Survey (Views of the Electorate Research Survey) — a unique longitudinal panel of around 7,000 voters — and have published 22 in-depth reports based on our findings. Voter Study Group analysts and scholars from across the political spectrum take part in generating these insights, and we also publish raw data from our surveys — inviting scholars and researchers to conduct their own analysis.

This blog will be a space where Voter Study Group members discuss emerging data, insights, and perspectives that shed light on the views of American voters as we enter into another election year. Edited by Voter Study Group Research Director Rob Griffin, posts on this blog represent the views of their authors rather than the Voter Study Group at large.

At a time of intense partisanship, America needs more than assumptions, anecdotes, and punditry. Democracy depends on high-quality, high-integrity information. The Voter Study Group will keep listening and asking questions that probe beneath the surface of horse-race dynamics to more deeply understand the attitudes and priorities of the American people. We will conduct new surveys and analysis throughout the 2020 election, so please check back often.

Views expressed here are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the collective Voter Study Group.