What Are The Biggest Issues Facing The U.S. Electoral System?

With Anthony Brooks

Americans are sharply divided by political party, race, and ethnicity regarding what they consider to be the biggest problems facing the U.S. electoral system, according to a newly released PRRI/The Atlantic poll.

Robert Jones, CEO of the Public Religion Research Institute. (@robertpjones)

Emma Green, staff writer at The Atlantic, where she covers politics, policy and religion. (@emmaogreen)

The Atlantic: "One Country, Two Radically Different Narratives" — "It’s not new for Americans to have divergent views on the health of their country’s democracy. But a new survey, co-created by The Atlantic and the Public Religion Research Institute, suggests that they have become radically split in their basic perceptions of reality, especially on controversial topics like Russian interference in the 2016 election. 'We only have the thinnest of agreements of what is plaguing our election system,' said Robert P. Jones, the head of PRRI. 'After that, people are viewing whatever problems they see very strongly through their partisan lenses.'

"At the same time, many respondents didn’t seem to care about civic issues that have gotten major attention from scholars, journalists, and government officials, pointing to another possible perception gap between elites and everyone else. In both Americas, people care about protecting civic life. They just can’t agree on what its problems are."