What jumped out to me from today’s NBC News poll is the intensification of a disturbing trend: the belief on both sides that the nation will be destroyed if the other side wins. It’s just one poll, but NBC News reports:

“Eighty-one percent of Democrats say they believe the Republican Party’s agenda poses a threat that, if not stopped, will destroy America as we know it. 

And almost identical share of Republicans — 79% — believe the same of the Democratic Party’s agenda.” 

It’s hard to imagine electoral competition as sustainable over time if these beliefs persist. As is often noted, the most fundamental premise of a sustainable democracy is the idea of each side taking turns at governance depending upon the shifting preference of the electorate. But that’s not possible if each side believes that the other cannot be permitted to take the next turn at governance.

How do we get out of this predicament? One reason why since January 6, 2021 I’ve devoted a substantial portion of my research agenda to alternative electoral systems–like Round Robin Voting (or a related variant called “Total Vote Runoff” that’s operationally very close to the “instant runoff” method of Ranked Choice Voting used in Alaska, Maine, and elsewhere)–is that these Condorcet-compliant electoral systems would tend to incentivize the kind of “centripetal” electoral competition that scholars like Ben Reilly have pursued in order to reduce social conflict in divided societies. If electoral competition is directed toward the center of the electorate’s set of preferences, rather than towards more polarized positions, presumably there is less likelihood that the losing side will believe that the entire society will be destroyed if the other side wins.

To put the point in terms of a football field metaphor, if the electoral competition is between two candidates who are each on the 45 yard line on either side of midfield, rather than within the “red zone” on each side of the field, it seems a lot easier to give up possession to the other side.

When we consider how much public discussion there has been about the threat to democracy in the United States since January 6, 2021, it is remarkable (at least to me) how relatively little media attention has been devoted to the urgent need for structural reforms that would make the nation’s electoral competition more centripetal. I hope that can change before it’s too late.