Narrowing the Perception Gap, often by highlighting similarities

Many researchers have found we are more similar across the political spectrum than often perceived, including from organizations Voice of the People, More in Common, Starts with Us, and Beyond Conflict. The Strengthening Democracy Challenge led by Stanford shows it is more effective to correct aspects of the Perception Gap than nearly any other scaleable intervention, achieving goals of significantly reducing anti-democratic attitudes, support for political violence, and partisan animosity. To a large extent, correcting the Perception Gap is effective because it reduces threat perceptions of those in the other party. Overblown threat perceptions can lead to a desire to win at all costs, even if it means breaking rules and putting America’s democratic republic at risk.