Consulting

Texas is continuously in a state of change — economically, politically, demographically. As Texas grapples with major changes, how do Texans across age, race, and political parties hold onto what they perceive as “truly Texan?” How does Texas replicate its DNA to maintain its sense of identity as new people, new ideas, and new industries make their homes in the state? These are the questions that inspired More in Common to launch a landmark study of the state of Texas. Over two years we heard from over 4000 Texans from across the state, including experts in Texan culture and leaders of Texas industries. We capture the striking and ultimately hopeful attitudes of Texans: We find that although Texans on far ends of the ideological spectrum feel exhausted by political divisions, most Texans say that the ties that bind us are stronger than what divides us. They believe in a changing Texas where everyone feels they belong.

Through collecting the views of 8,000 Americans in our foundational study, “Hidden Tribes,” we found people’s worldviews, core beliefs, and attitudes can predict an individual’s views on social and political issues with greater accuracy than demographic factors like race, gender, or income. We frequently work with partners to insert our segmentation methodology into surveys to develop deeper understanding of Americans attitudes and beliefs.

Our Americans in Conversation (AIC) online research platform, (similar to large online focus group) consists of a politically and demographically diverse online community of 100-300 Americans with whom we can engage with continuously over time. Through this platform we regularly engage with participants—asking questions, testing ideas, and refining messaging guidance in response to real-time events. We’ve found that qualitative data is a powerful and underused way to both understand and present the views of Americans. We work with partners to design questions and activities to generate quick insights and get a pulse on what Americans are thinking and to get a deeper understanding of their underlying beliefs.

More in Common partnered with the National Immigration Forum, a leading immigration policy and advocacy organization, on a 27-city learning tour of “Living Room Conversations” in suburban and rural communities across America. The purpose of the Living Room Conversation campaign was to deepen an understanding of the cultural, security and economic concerns that drive the immigration debate and examine competing frames around immigration and integration.

More in Common partnered with Cross the Lines to serve as a measurement & evaluation (M&E) and learning consultant. Cross the Lines is a new initiative focused on building the movement within Christianity to reduce polarization and improve how communities engage on issues of race. Working with Cross the Lines, More in Common developed an M&E framework to guide impact measurement and storytelling across its work.

In 2020, More in Common convened approximately 40 different organizations, from philanthropic institutions to civil society organizations, for a scenario planning exercise exploring the prompt – “will Americans emerge more united from COVID-19?”. The exercise consisted of a wide-ranging discussion of the themes, forces, and drivers of unity and division during and post-COVID-19. The intent was to elevate key narrative considerations we should collectively focus on to best position the country to emerge from the pandemic more united.

Working with Solutions Journalism Network, we led a virtual scenario planning exercise to prepare reporters, editors, and producers on how to navigate a potential political violence scenario during a midterm election. After providing a political violence landscape analysis, we asked attendees to imagine they work for an Atlanta newspaper and had to cover a hypothetical series of events that play out on election day touching on many of the forces and tension points outlined in the analysis. Through breakout rooms and group conversations, attendees discussed how they might react, best practices, and what types of resources and relationships they need to cultivate in advance to best prepare them for such a situation.

Drawing from multiple message tests on American identity, this guide equips institutions and civil society leaders with strategic messaging that can disrupt divisive narratives and reach key audiences with more inclusive narrative of American identity.

More in Common launched Democracy for President, to provide evidence-based communications and engagement guidance on how to talk about contentious issues with people from different backgrounds. The resources were shared with dozens of organizations across civil society and included as part of a national campaign that reached millions of Americans online to reduce polarization in the post-election period.

A new video method we developed significantly reduced feelings of hostility between political party members to a level that resembles the political climate of the 1980s, when Republicans and Democrats held close-to-neutral feelings towards one another. The method was almost twice as effective as the top performing approaches that were a part of Stanford University’s 2023 Strengthening Democracy Challenge, an initiative that tested 25+ methods developed and submitted by academics and practitioners that aimed to reduce partisan animosity.

Since 2022, More in Common has been working with StoryCorps’ One Small Step program to examine how Americans react to conversations between two Americans with different beliefs and worldviews.

More in Common, in partnership with the American Press Institute, sought to find out what Americans want to read or watch in the media. Our findings suggest Americans want a balance of positive and negative stories and have a desire to see more solutions-oriented reporting. Americans also view national media as more helpful for understanding others who are different from them and see local media as more helpful for learning about issues that impact people’s everyday lives.