At this point, can Democrats and Republicans ever really get along? The data says yes.
In Philadelphia, the birthplace of America, people from across the country and across the political divide recently gathered to renew the promise of the nation ahead of its 250th.
The Braver Angels conference, held over the weekend at Temple University, aimed to spark a renewed sense of patriotism and participation in what organization CEO Maury Giles calls “courageous citizenship.”
That happens at a personal level, the community level and nationally, Giles explained, and it’s part of the mission he and Braver Angels set out to accomplish 10 years ago.
It’s all with the hope that Americans can recognize there are “shared American ideals worthy of defense and (can) begin to have hope in the system because you can see how things change.”
Can bringing people together really work?
Braver Angels has more than 15,000 dues-paying members and almost 900 of them showed up in Philadelphia to hear from speakers and participate in events.
But in the 10 years since Braver Angels launched, American politics has only become more divided and hostile. Supporters say that doesn’t mean their mission isn’t working.
According to data collected by Brigham Young University professor Eliza Hawkins and her students, events like those held by Braver Angels are actually helping turn down the political temperature.
People who participate in events with others across the political spectrum walk away feeling better about the opposing side. These debates are meant to be calm and civil while exploring controversial or hot-button issues with a moderator.
Using pre-and-post survey data, they used a “feeling thermometer” survey to create a “difference score” to scale what the difference is between love for one’s own party and hate for the other party.
The results showed that people were more likely to come out from any of the events offered at Braver Angels feeling better about the other side.
Additionally, the stronger the ideological affiliation, the greater likelihood a person will be affected. For example, someone who identifies themselves as conservative is much more likely to walk away feeling better about liberals than someone who identifies as “somewhat conservative.”
The same is true for more left-leaning participants. However, the findings showed that moderates had lower amounts of change on the feeling thermometer after attending events.
The findings show that the events are effective for all age groups, but there is “variation” and some events are more effective for different groups than others, Hawkins explained.
The survey found that one-on-one conversations were the most effective for bringing people together, with Red and Blue debates falling closely behind.
“Thinking alike and acting together are not opposites. It is entirely possible to act together when you don’t think alike.”
— Political analyst Yuval Levin
Still, the people showing up to events are an engaged subset of the American populace. Marketing and outreach for the team at Braver Angels is a priority as they’re looking to grow membership and plant the seed that we don’t have to be so divided.
“Choirs are important because when they sing beautifully, they inspire other people,” Giles said of the group’s work.
The data found that online and in-person events are both effective, while the online space could allow the organization to reach a broader audience.
Additionally, the group found that events are most effective in changing thought and behavior among young Republicans and older Democrats. They found that among those who engage the most, they experience greater depolarization, pointing to the fact that showing up is working to turn down the political heat.
“The more you engage, the more you change!” Hawkins and students’ presentation said.
It’s kind of always been this way
According to a recent Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll conducted by Morning Consult, Americans are pretty unhappy with the way things are going with politics.
Republicans, perhaps unsurprisingly, given that they hold the majority in Congress and have control of the White House, are more likely to say they’re patriotic.
Still, across the board, after living in deeply divided times for so long, it’s clear that patriotism is on the decline, especially among younger Americans.
Yuval Levin, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and author of several books, spoke during a presentation at the conference about having hope for the future of the country.
Something for Americans to remember is that the national experiment set out on 250 years ago has gone through turbulent times before, he said.
From the founding, Americans have felt unsure about how it would go on. Levin highlighted how in 2026, Americans think, “Wow, this could really go anywhere,” but so did Americans in 1850 or the 1960s, he argued.
“I think it’s actually very important for us to remember that maybe the most stable characteristic of the American national character has always been a foreboding sense of doom,” he said.
Levin acknowledged that Americans have a right to be worried, because what the country is, stands for and means is important and not easy.
So, what should Americans do with that worry? Levin argues “spectator citizenship” is a danger to the United States. It’s the sense that when things happen, it’s someone else’s or the other side’s fault, he explained.
He highlighted the history and the founding, when the country was designed to be divided and challenged, like the government’s checks and balances.
He noted that a divided America talks a lot about unity. And right now, society says that unity must mean that everyone must agree on everything. That’s impossible, he said.
“Thinking alike and acting together are not opposites,” Levin said. “It is entirely possible to act together when you don’t think alike.”
To do that, American citizens — and the government — need to return to negotiation, competition and a “constant constructive tension.” Coalitions need to be built and communities need to be expanded, Levin said.
“Those are the solutions to our problems in 21st century learning. It’s when we’re forced to deal with each other that we stand a chance of acting together.”