You may have the feeling that Americans cannot agree on anything.
Here are three significant areas where we do agree, and by a strong majority. Every number below comes from a reputable nonpartisan survey, and the sources are listed at the bottom. You can check them for yourself.
1. Members of Congress should not trade stocks
Americans agree that members of Congress should not be allowed to buy and sell stock in individual companies while in elected office. The parties give nearly the same answer: 87% of Republicans, 88% of Democrats, 81% of independents.
Read that again. On this question, more than eight in ten of every group agree.
The reasoning is shared, too: there are simply too many conflicts of interest when members of Congress can trade individual stocks while in office.
And here is another number that confirms the agreement. When researchers sorted the results by how red or blue a congressional district is, support ran from 85% in the reddest districts to 85% in the bluest. Not similar. Exactly the same.
2. Members of Congress should not serve forever
In a March 2023 report, 83% of registered voters supported a constitutional amendment establishing congressional term limits: 86% of Republicans, 80% of Democrats, 84% of independents. This past April, a separate NPR/PBS News/Marist poll asked again and got 83% agreement — including 89% of Republicans, 84% of independents, and 78% of Democrats.
Different pollsters, different methods, three years apart, the same answer.
Support holds in the reddest districts (86%) and the bluest (78%), and it has been steady since 2017. Congress has not voted on term limits since 1995.
3. Big money is corrupting our politics
79% of Americans say that large independent political expenditures by wealthy donors and corporations give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption: 84% of Democrats, 74% of Republicans. And 76% say the appearance of wealthy donors gaining access to elected officials makes them lose faith in our democracy — 84% of Democrats, 68% of Republicans.
Reasonable people will have different ideas about how to eliminate, or minimize, the impact of private money on our campaigns and our politics. But on the underlying judgment — that this much money buys too much access, and that it is costing us faith in our own government — three quarters of us, in both parties, are looking at the same thing and seeing the same thing.
So what now?
Three issues. Great support for change. Not one has produced a law that matches what people say they want.
Two questions follow, and the next two essays take them in turn. Why does it feel like we agree on nothing, when in fact there are broad areas of agreement? And why does agreement this broad still produce no action from our elected representatives?
Sources and methodology
- Program for Public Consultation, University of Maryland — Ban on Stock Trading for Members of Congress Favored by Overwhelming Bipartisan Majority, July 19, 2023. Fielded May 19–30, 2023; n=2,625 registered voters; margin of error ±1.9%.
- Program for Public Consultation, University of Maryland — Five-in-Six Americans Favor Constitutional Amendment on Term Limits for Members of Congress, March 2023.
- NPR/PBS News/Marist Poll, conducted April 27–30, 2026. n=1,322 national adults, ±3.1 points; n=1,155 registered voters, ±3.3 points.
- YouGov national survey commissioned by Issue One, October 7–15, 2025.