Our Common Ground: Insights from Four Years of Listening to American Voters

by Diane Hessan

For four years, Diane Hessan has been in weekly conversation with voters across the United States. What she has learned will surprise you, enlighten you, give you hope, and change the way you think about your fellow Americans. Our inability to hear each other, our suspicion, and our impatience is stressing us out and tearing us apart. It’s a sickness that permeates the American culture, erodes our collective mental health, and makes us hate each other. To gain insight into how we can move forward, Hessan undertook a massive listening project, conducting an ongoing series of weekly interviews with 500 voters from every state, of every age and ethnicity, and along different points of the political spectrum. The topics ranged from race to guns, from character to party politics, from masks to rallies, from the Supreme Court to the pandemic to immigration and climate change. After more than a million individual communications, two things became On issue after issue, our “divided” nation isn’t nearly as polarized as we imagine. An overwhelming majority of voters believe in commonsense gun licensing and regulation. They are pro-immigration. They believe climate change is real and the coronavirus is deadly. They care deeply about their families and are willing to work hard to make ends meet. And, they believe that Washington is slow, bureaucratic, and not working in their best interests. In dozens of columns on these topics published in The Boston Globe , Hessan has upended common political wisdom. Presented together for the first time as part of this book, they reveal a unique perspective on how Americans actually think, what they value, and how we can move forward. The path to healing our divided nation is both simple and profound. We must turn down the heat. We must begin to listen, to stop presuming, to try to understand, to treat each other with dignity, and to know that most Americans are not crazy radicals. We truly share common ground. If we can pull together, we can have a much better America.

Genres: Politics

280 pages, Hardcover

Published June 22, 2021

Reviews

[Diane Klutz · Rating 5 out of 5]

A rare book that earns its optimism.

What immediately sets Our Common Ground apart is the rigor behind its conclusions. Four years, 500 voters, every state, over a million individual communications Diane Hessan didn't just form opinions about the American electorate; she listened to it, systematically and persistently, in a way that most commentators never bother to do.

The result is a book that quietly dismantles the polarization narrative without being naive about it. The data Hessan surfaces is striking: broad consensus on gun licensing, climate change, immigration, and distrust of Washington cuts across party lines far more than the media would have us believe. That's not a feel-good spin it's documented, and that's what gives the book its credibility.

What I found especially valuable is how Hessan frames the problem. The division isn't primarily ideological it's perceptual. We've been conditioned to see each other as more extreme than we actually are, and that misperception does real damage to civic trust and collective mental health.

The writing is accessible without being shallow, and the Boston Globe columns that form the backbone of the book hold up well together as a unified argument. For anyone working in civic engagement, public policy, community leadership, or simply trying to make sense of American political culture right now, this is a grounding read.

Highly recommended for those tired of division being treated as inevitable.

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really insightful book that should be read by all voting Americans. We don’t all agree on everything, but the point of this book is that we agree on more than we think, and the divisiveness that we feel is not healthy nor pleasant.

I love that the author highlights the nuances that are where we find common ground. If only people would stop to listen to each other more, listen to the media (and social media) less, we could get so much more accomplished.

Some of the tips at the end about “Listen Hard” are truly valuable regardless of whether you’re trying to bridge political differences or trying to bridge gaps in any other aspect of your life.

I have recommended this book to several colleagues and family members.

Thanks to #NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for the free Copy of this book. My opinions In this review are purely my own.

#OurCommonGround

[Clara Peng · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I’ve been fortunate enough to read about this before, but I didn’t find Hessan’s structuring of this book to be particularly compelling. Inserting articles felt less intentional than I believe it was meant to come off as. However, the work of bridging political divide is only horsing more important, and research such as these surveys will remain crucial touch points.

[Henry Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five years of “Hard listening” by Diane Hessan yields a book full of unique insights into the questions that both divide and unite us, and offers a path forward.

[Anne Beall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting data-based approach to understanding both sides of the political equation in our country.