Us · Do we actually agree?
What do we actually agree on?
More than anyone tells you. The loudest fights get the airtime, but on issue after issue, most Democrats and most Republicans want the same thing. Here's the list, with the party split on every row, so you don't have to take our word for it.
112policies majorities of both parties back88of those clear two-thirds of both sides2×how much more extreme we think the other side is than it really is
How to read this
These are poll readings, what people say they support. Even items are the truest common ground; agreeing on the goal doesn't always mean agreeing on the details, and where the evidence is genuinely debated, we say so, for any side. The full catalogue is 112 policies (U. Maryland's Program for Public Consultation, 2026); we list the ones we've verified ourselves, every row links its poll, and add the rest as we verify them.
SORT
Fixing Washington
5 policiesTerm limits for members of Congress
83%EVENDemocrats 80% · Republicans 82%Pew Research (2023)
Get big money out of politics, amend the Constitution to limit campaign spending
82%EVENDemocrats 85% · Republicans 78%American Promise; Roosevelt Institute
Ban members of Congress from trading individual stocks
80%EVENDemocrats 82% · Republicans 80%Brennan Center / national polling
Term limits for Supreme Court justices
75%LEANS DEMDemocrats 85% · Republicans 67%PRRI, 2025
Match small political donations 6-to-1 for candidates who refuse big donors
74%LEANS DEMDemocrats 79% · Republicans 70%Program for Public Consultation, 2018
Health care
4 policiesLet the government cap drug prices to what other rich countries pay
86%EVENDemocrats 86% · Republicans 90% · Independents 76%Program for Public Consultation, 2026
↳ Includes the popular $35/month cap on insulin, a specific version of the same idea.
Expand Medicare to cover dental, vision, and hearing
84%LEANS DEMDemocrats 89% · Republicans 79%Program for Public Consultation, 2021
Extend the enhanced ACA health-insurance tax credits
78%LEANS DEMDemocrats 92% · Republicans 59%KFF, 2025
Don't make abortion a crime before fetal viability
77%LEANS DEMDemocrats 90% · Republicans 61%Program for Public Consultation, 2024
↳ The pollster's framing: 'support' here means opposing criminal penalties before viability, not a view on abortion itself.
Work & family
4 policiesTax incentives to build homes affordable to working families
83%EVENDemocrats 84% · Republicans 80%Program for Public Consultation, 2026
Cap childcare costs at 7% of a family's income
83%LEANS DEMDemocrats 89% · Republicans 77% · Independents 80%Program for Public Consultation, 2026
Paid family and medical leave
82%LEANS DEMDemocrats 90% · Republicans 76%Navigator / national polling (2024)
Raise the federal minimum wage to at least $12 an hour
74%LEANS DEMDemocrats 95% · Republicans 53%Program for Public Consultation, 2023
↳ A $15 floor polls lower; $12 is the level that wins majorities of both parties.
Guns & safety
2 policiesRequire background checks on all gun sales
86%LEANS DEMDemocrats 90% · Republicans 77%APM Research Lab; Pew
Red-flag laws: let a court temporarily remove guns from someone at risk of harming themselves or others
77%LEANS DEMDemocrats 87% · Republicans 70%Johns Hopkins National Survey of Gun Policy, 2025
Taxes & benefits
7 policiesTrim Social Security benefits for the top 20% of earners
81%EVENDemocrats 86% · Republicans 78%Program for Public Consultation, 2022
Gradually raise the Social Security retirement age from 67 to 68
75%EVENDemocrats 76% · Republicans 75%Program for Public Consultation, 2022
Raise taxes on income over $400,000
70%LEANS DEMDemocrats 84% · Republicans 66%Bloomberg / Morning Consult (2024–25)
Work requirements for some benefits
69%LEANS REPDemocrats 56% · Republicans 84%national polling (2023–25)
Make billionaires pay more (billionaire income tax)
67%LEANS DEMDemocrats 84% · Republicans 51% · Independents 64%Americans for Tax Fairness / YouGov (2024)
Lift the Social Security payroll-tax cap on high earners
63%EVENDemocrats 65% · Republicans 62%Bipartisan Policy Center (2025)
Raise the corporate tax rate
54%LEANS DEMDemocrats 73% · Republicans 40%Pew / Navigator (2025)
Energy & environment
2 policiesKeep the tax credit for building public EV charging stations
81%LEANS DEMDemocrats 89% · Republicans 75%Program for Public Consultation, 2025
Keep offshore oil drilling at current levels, don't expand it
68%LEANS DEMDemocrats 84% · Republicans 54%Program for Public Consultation, 2025
Tech & AI
1 policyRequire new AI programs to pass a government safety test before use
79%EVENDemocrats 81% · Republicans 84%Program for Public Consultation, 2025
Criminal justice
2 policiesLegalize marijuana
70%LEANS DEMDemocrats 87% · Republicans 55%Gallup, 2023
Restore voting rights to people with felony convictions after they serve their sentence
70%LEANS DEMDemocrats 84% · Republicans 55%Pew Research, 2021
Immigration
1 policyRequire E-Verify and raise work visas to match demand
83%EVENDemocrats 84% · Republicans 82% · Independents 80%Program for Public Consultation, 2026
Voting & democracy
2 policiesRequire photo ID to vote
84%LEANS REPDemocrats 69% · Republicans 93%Gallup
Make Election Day a national holiday
74%EVENDemocrats 76% · Republicans 74%Pew Research, 2025
The newest common ground: opposing local data centers
71% oppose~75% of Democrats and ~63% of Republicans oppose an AI data center in their area, over electricity bills. Read the full breakdown →
Popular ≠ passed: where the most-wanted policies actually go
Getting a bill introduced is easy, any member can do it, and thousands die untouched every year. So the real test is how far a popular idea travels: through the House, through the Senate, into law. Here are 12 of the most broadly-supported policies, traced step by step.
12
introduced
10
passed the House
5
cleared the Senate
5
became law
3 in full, 2 in part
Lots pass the House. Almost all of them die in the Senate, usually to the filibuster. See how often the Senate blocks itself →
Let Medicare negotiate drug prices
~85% support
✓
Introduced✓
House✓
Senate◑
LawBecame law, in part. Became law, but limited to a small, phased list of drugs, not all of them. Inflation Reduction Act (2022) ↗
Cap insulin at $35 a month
majority support
✓
Introduced✓
House✓
Senate◑
LawBecame law, in part. The $35 cap became law for Medicare; the cap for everyone else was blocked in the Senate. Affordable Insulin Now Act / IRA (2022) ↗
Ban surprise medical bills
majority support
✓
Introduced✓
House✓
Senate✓
LawBecame law. Passed as part of the year-end 2020 spending package. No Surprises Act (2020) ↗
Protect same-sex marriage in federal law
majority support
✓
Introduced✓
House✓
Senate✓
LawBecame law. 12 Senate Republicans joined, a genuinely bipartisan win. Respect for Marriage Act (2022) ↗
Modest gun-safety reforms (background-check funds, red-flag incentives)
majority support
✓
Introduced✓
House✓
Senate✓
LawBecame law. First major federal gun law in ~30 years, far narrower than universal checks (below). Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (2022) ↗
Universal background checks on gun sales
~89% support
✓
Introduced✓
House✕
Senate–
LawBlocked in the Senate. Passed the House in 2019 and 2021; never got past the Senate filibuster. Bipartisan Background Checks Act (H.R.8) ↗
Legalize marijuana federally
~68% support
✓
Introduced✓
House–
Senate–
LawPassed the House, then stalled. Passed the House in 2020 and 2022; the Senate never took it up. MORE Act (H.R.3617) ↗
Citizenship path for Dreamers
majority support
✓
Introduced✓
House–
Senate–
LawPassed the House, then stalled. Passed the House in 2019 and 2021; stalled in the Senate. American Dream and Promise Act (H.R.6) ↗
Guarantee paid family & medical leave
majority support
✓
Introduced✓
House✕
Senate–
LawBlocked in the Senate. Passed the House inside a larger bill; dropped in the Senate. Build Back Better Act (2021) ↗
Disclose dark-money donors
majority support
✓
Introduced✓
House✕
Senate–
LawBlocked in the Senate. Passed the House in 2010; blocked by Senate filibuster then and again in 2022. DISCLOSE Act ↗
Term limits for Congress
~80% support
✓
Introduced–
House–
Senate–
LawNever got a floor vote. A constitutional amendment, repeatedly introduced, never brought to a floor vote. Term-limits constitutional amendment (various) ↗
Lower the Medicare eligibility age
majority support
✓
Introduced–
House–
Senate–
LawNever got a floor vote. Proposed for years; never received a floor vote. Medicare age-lowering proposals (various) ↗
How to read it: “Passed” means an actual floor vote in that chamber, not just clearing committee. “In part” means a narrower version became law than the popular one (e.g., a drug-price or insulin cap that covers Medicare only). A policy can be addressed by several bills across different Congresses; we list the furthest-advancing one. We color each row by how far it got, never by whether we think it should have passed, the point is the pattern, not a verdict. This is a curated set of well-documented marquee policies, not all 112, the full list is a work in progress (it needs a bill-by-bill records pull).
Agreement isn't the problem.
On policy after policy, some leaning left, some leaning right, many dead-even, majorities of both parties already agree, yet most of it never becomes law. That gap between what people broadly want and what actually passes says more about how the system works (and who it answers to) than about how divided we are. Which is exactly why getting money out of politics keeps landing as common ground. See who the system answers to →