Over several decades many of you have convened forums on a variety of issues and shared your insights on the findings through post-forum questionnaires, moderator reports, media, and personal stories that have greatly contributed to shared learnings, resources, and research to help advance public deliberation. We deeply appreciate the work you do and the insights you share.
The Kettering Foundation has compiled those insights to evaluate how public judgment has evolved over time and prepared reports on various issues over the last year.
Below, you can find information and links to reports about findings from forums on a variety of issues including the economy, voting, and more; updates and reports about the Hidden Common Ground project; and a piece by Nick Felts.
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New Reports on Findings from Forums on the Economy
The Kettering Foundation has released two new reports describing findings from forums where participants deliberated about the economy.
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Recent Reports from NIF Forums
The following are links to some past reports from forums on a variety of topics. See all reports.
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A National Initiative on Encouraging and Safeguarding Voting
and a New Report from Public Agenda on Voting
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NIF has just released a new issue discussion guide, Elections: How Should We Encourage and Safeguard Voting?, available as a free PDF download. In research conducted for the guide, voters from across the political spectrum not only were able to discuss the issue civilly and respectfully, but also found that they agreed on many aspects of the problem.
During the National Week of Conversation in June, NIF launched its national initiative on encouraging and safeguarding voting with opportunities for people from across the country to participate in online National Issues Forums on the issue. NIF practitioners moderated the forums and provided opportunities for participants to delve more deeply into the issue in multiple breakout discussions.
Kara Lindaman, a moderator from Winona, Minnesota, reflected on the experience: "The mix of viewpoints in the discussion I moderated was incredible. It would be impossible to simulate this experience of having people of different ages and races from multiple states and regions in the same Zoom room. There was a young man who argued that the election was stolen and a woman from the League of Women Voters with evidence to the contrary. But they really wanted to learn from each other and to understand each other's views. I wish every young person I teach could have the chance to be in a room like that."
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Hidden Common Ground - A Report from Public Agenda on Voting
A Public Agenda survey (part of the Hidden Common Ground project) found that "Most Americans across party lines believe the nation can make voting simple, convenient, and hassle-free while also preventing fraud. This result confirms research done by the National Issues forums Institute and the Kettering Foundation with people across the country."
It also "found that 23 percent of Republicans think preventing voter fraud was a higher priority and 25 percent of Democrats say making voting easier was more important. However, large majorities of both parties, as well as Independents, believe it is possible to do both. This finding runs counter to the narrative, often heard in the media, that Americans are so deeply divided they cannot agree on this or other issues."
Click here to read an article about the Public Agenda survey and reported findings, and click here to read the survey findings.
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A Report from Nick Felts - On Common Ground: Hidden and Forged
In his piece, On Common Ground: Hidden and Forged, author Nick Felts reflects on the Hidden Common Ground project and on the dynamics of some of the things that can be uncovered, and also created during deliberative forums:
"When people come together in deliberative forums to make decisions on shared political problems, they tend to leave with greater knowledge of the issue at hand, a greater respect for those with whom they disagree, and an enhanced sense of how complex most political problems are. These are powerful effects, but what happens when people deliberate is not limited to positive effects on individuals. Deliberators act as creators or producers. In collectively making sense of an issue and sharing their experiences, deliberators create new knowledge--practical knowledge about how a problem looks in their place, what has been tried before, and how new approaches might fare."
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Let us know what you are doing |
Do you have news or events related to the deliberative public forums work you do? We'd love to be able to share what you're doing. Please send information to Patty Dineen.
If you are planning to hold a forum or workshop, please post a few details in the Events area of the National Issues Forums (NIF) website by logging in and clicking here.
Support public deliberation
Would you like to make a difference in how people talk about public issues in our society? There are three ways to support our work: donate to the National Issues Forums Institute (NIFI), the Taylor L. Willingham Legacy Fund, or the Elizabeth "Libby" Kingseed Teaching With Deliberation Memorial Award. Click below to learn more and to donate.
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About Deliberation in National Issues Forums |
National Issues Forums issue guides are designed to stimulate public deliberation, which is a way of making decisions together that is different from discussion or debate. The purpose of deliberative forums is to inform collective action. As citizens, we have to make decisions together before we can act together, whether with other citizens or through legislative bodies. Acting together is essential for addressing problems that can't be solved by one group of people or one institution. These problems have more than one cause and therefore have to be met by a number of mutually reinforcing initiatives with broad public participation.
About the National Issues Forums Institute
The National Issues Forums Institute's mission is to promote the use of public deliberation in schools, colleges, civic organizations, and religious institutions in the United States. The institute's board members are volunteers drawn from leaders in government, colleges and universities, libraries, civic organizations, the media, and medicine. For more information visit www.nifi.org.
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