Better Conflict is More Popular Than Ever

We have the data - #176

We all naturally focus on the things that need fixing, and this publication is no different. For the holidays, we highlight reasons for hope instead.

Better conflict is catching on

It’s hard to find definitive statistics on how many people or organizations are working on better conflict in America, but pretty much every plausible indicator is up.

In April, the Listen First Project and the Civic Health Project released a comprehensive report on the state of America’s bridging movement, writing,

Absent a robust, centralized cataloging function, it is challenging to keep abreast of the “everything, everywhere, all at once” pace and scale at which bridge-building, peace-building, conflict resolution, and civil discourse programs are being implemented nationwide. In higher education alone, hundreds of college campuses entered Fall 2024 with newly invigorated curricular and co-curricular offerings intended to reach thousands of students per campus in the current academic year.

In response to skyrocketing demand, capable grassroots leaders in America’s bridging movement are shifting from “push” strategies, i.e. inspiring individuals and institutions to take up bridge-building, to “pull” strategies, i.e. responding to institutional demand, partnering with community and civic sector leaders, and packaging offerings for more rapid and scalable consumption.

Let’s get quantitative about this. Braver Angels has grown from 12,000 to 14,000 members in the last year. BridgeUSA has expanded from 63 to 80 campuses. But perhaps one of the most systematic signals is Democracy Fund’s survey of organizations in the “democracy” space, a broad area which includes everything from election integrity to nonprofit journalism to polarization research. They find that most funders are maintaining or increasing their giving.

from Democracy Fund’s September 2025 survey

This is no doubt in part due to the upcoming midterms, but February’s survey showed the same thing.

Federal rancor, local cooperation

According to a May 2025 report by Civic Pulse, 83% of local leaders say polarization substantially harms the country, versus only 31% for their own communities.

CivicPulse

Meanwhile, Congress is as polarized as it’s ever been, judging by their voting record. But at the local level, there’s a lot more bipartisan cooperation than you might expect.

Democratic Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear has been working wonders in a Red state. 50% of Kentucky Republicans approve of Beshear, the highest GOP approval for any Democratic governor, making him a serious contender for President in 2028.

In Minnesota they have no choice — the 67-67 tied House forced the creation of a formal power-sharing agreement with co-chaired committees requiring bipartisan votes to advance legislation.

And perhaps this spirit of cooperation is most striking in Colorado. Despite supermajorities of Democrats in both the House and Senate, 52% of bills received majority Republican support, including housing construction reform that had failed for years, nuclear energy legislation (GOP-led), and a George Floyd-era police reform law (SB20-217).

Polarization as poetry

This year saw the publication of WE, a collection of poetry about polarization by April Ossman. Here she is recounting a moment of fraternizing with the enemy at an airport.

Dear Atilla

Hello, fellow snowbird
with your second home in Florida,
in the city next to my in-laws-to-be.

Thank you for the pre-flight commiseration
over northern winters,
the mutual appreciation of a southern break,
for shared love
of certain books and movies

Thank you for favoring me with your dimples
and good cheer,
for your reluctance to hurt, with political dueling,
what you assume must be my liberal feelings
as a Vermonter

Thank you for dipping your toes in anyway,
for laving them in perfectly civil debate,
scaling walls,

for the concession that both sides
have been known to lie,
for your self-deprecating humor
in referring to yourself as being
to the right of Attila the Hun

But disarming and attempting to conquer
with charm instead of your namesake’s force,

for being so courteous
as to renew my faith
in the humanity of those
with whom I disagree politically

Game of the Week

Senatordle - can you tell if a Senator is a Republican or a Democrat just by looking at their portrait?

senateordle.com

Happy Holidays, everyone.