Citizen Data

The moment you've been waiting for: Citizen Data's 2024 Research Wrapped: Our Year in Data. Before we head off for the holidays, we're highlighting some of our most interesting trends this year. With 1.8+ million new insights, we tracked voters' attitudes around democracy, election reform, and civic health, & more. Thank you to our partners for making this work possible and let's dive into 2025 with even more questions, more answers, and more impact! #2024YearInReview #PublicOpinion #Democracy

In cities and states across the country, RCV is empowering American voters. According to our new poll with Citizen Data, 47% of voters were not happy with their choices on their ballots in at least one election in 2024, and say they felt forced to choose between the "lesser of two evils". 47%!! The number is even higher among Gen Z and Millennial voters. Poll after poll shows that Americans feel our democracy isn’t representing us effectively. The answer is #RankedChoiceVoting. More candidates can run without fear of playing spoiler, and voters can feel good about picking their favorite candidate – instead of worrying about choosing the lesser evil.? #RankedChoiceVoting is Democracy working

Where does democracy stand post-election? One of the most notable shifts we observed was in election trust. Trust reached a record high of 83% among voters, the highest we've recorded since tracking this metric. Additionally, we saw significant increases in trust among Republicans and Independents following President Donald Trump's victory. Check out our latest article that dives deep into these shifts in election trust, democracy satisfaction and optimism, and perceptions around vote impact before and after the November election. https://lnkd.in/em_pD4DD

Last week, Citizen Data team members Lily Stockbridge and Marie Paxton Staniforth attended the Bipartisan Policy Center's 2024 Elections Summit and presented our research on Gen Z attitudes and perceptions. One piece of data that might surprise you? Gen Z is consistently the most accepting of politically motivated violence. Nearly 1 in 4 (24%) members of Gen Z, for example, find it acceptable to destroy or deface public and private property compared to an average of 8% across other generations. Check out more data from our poster below!

Glad we could support our friends at FairVote in exploring voter attitudes post-election. Their advocacy for reforms that expand choice and expression in our elections is critical, and we're proud to contribute to their mission."

How are Americans feeling after the 2024 elections? We asked voters across generations to share their emotions in the wake of this year’s general elections, and the results provide a fascinating snapshot of the nation’s emotional pulse. ?? Hope emerged as the dominant emotion, selected by a significant margin across all generations. ?? But there are key generational differences: -Younger voters (Gen Z and Millennials) are more likely to feel anxious, reflecting uncertainty about what lies ahead. - Older voters (Gen X and Boomers) report higher levels of disappointment, though they are also slightly more likely to feel relieved. Over the coming months, we’ll continue to explore the reasons behind these feelings and how they evolve. What stands out to you in this data?? #PublicOpinion #Election2024 #GenerationalInsights

Should we be designing our elections more like our Thanksgiving menu? Last year, our CEO Mindy Finn, alongside Protect Democracy's Ben Raderstorf wrote in the Miami Herald about how we can better design our elections to better reflect our country’s diversity of opinion, using Thanksgiving as a metaphor for our choices in politics today. Instead of a “winner-take-all” system currently used to elect a vast majority of our representatives (where voters often send the turkey or stuffing to Congress), voters could decide on a more diverse set of choices through proportional representation, ensuring the mashed potatoes and candied yams are included in the mix. So how could proportional representation strengthen our democracy? Read the full op-ed here: https://lnkd.in/etgfBRRT?

While we continue to reflect and report on insights and learnings from the 2024 general election, one surprising data point we’ve observed is the noticeable boost in Americans' satisfaction with democracy. Looking at satisfaction pre and post-election, we see voters who say they are "very satisfied" rising from 12% in October to 20% in November. Perhaps not surprisingly, satisfaction increased significantly among Republicans (25%) and to a lesser extent Independents (11%) but decreased 13% among Democrats. This post-election surge in satisfaction underscores how the electoral process shapes perceptions of democracy and reveals the differing ways partisan groups may define the term. Stay tuned for more insights in the coming weeks!

During this #VeteransDay, we would like to thank all who served and are continuing to serve. Veterans not only protect our nation; our research shows they also play a vital role as bridge builders within our communities. According to a May 2024 survey, Americans across the political spectrum overwhelmingly view veterans as trustworthy, with at least 80% from each major political party expressing their confidence in veterans as trusted messengers. These results illustrate how veterans can bridge divides in a country with drastic partisan differences.