If you spent the weekend talking politics and policy with a roomful of people who thought differently from you, how might it change your views of American democracy?
According to an experiment called America in One Room, that experience moves Americans toward a rosier view of how American democracy works.
“People do not think their voice matters, and they talk to the like-minded, and they are dispirited and inattentive,” said Jim Fishkin, director of the Center for Deliberative Democracy at Stanford and one of the creators of this research method. The difference between that attitude and the outcome of deliberative research suggest experimentation in democratic institutions is needed, he said in an email. CONT.
Jennifer Agiesta, Kyung Lah & Kim Berryman, CNN