The Center for Deliberative Democracy, housed in the Department of Communication at Stanford University, is devoted to research about democracy and public opinion obtained through Deliberative Polling®.

Latest News and Events

America in One Room: Climate and Energy

In September 2021 a new sample of America in One Room will convene to deliberate about policy options for climate and energy. These public deliberations will focus on possible options to help achieve Net Zero (the point at which we would no longer be adding to the total of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.)

This will be a Helena project, with a national sample of about 500 and a comparably sized control group recruited by NORC at the University of Chicago. Partners include California Forward, the Greater Houston Partnership, the Center for Houston’s Future and the In This Together. Results should be available before the Glasgow Summit (the 26^th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow, 31 October, 2021.) Participants will deliberate online using the Stanford Platform for Online Deliberation.

Design of the New School on Planetary Sustainability

• Deliberative Polling to Inform the Design of the New School on Planetary Sustainability
• Faculty deliberation supports proposals for new school focused on climate and sustainability

America in One Room—Election Follow-Up

The participants in the Deliberative Poll in Dallas and the control group were surveyed in a recent follow-up conducted by NORC. 463 of the original deliberators and 710 of the original control group responded. They were asked about how much they followed the campaign, what they thought of the government’s handling of the Covid crisis and who they planned to vote for. Results for both the deliberators and the control group are presented here.

• America in One Room Election Follow-up Summary
• America in One Room Election Follow-up Results
• These Americans Tried to Listen to One Another. A Year Later, Here’s How They’re Voting, The New York Times

America in One Room

• America in One Room
• America in One Room: Executive Summary and Overall Results

Voices of America in One Room

• Spotify
• Apple Podcast

America in One Room is the historic gathering of American voters from across ages, races, genders, and the political spectrum- led by Stanford’s Center for Deliberative Democracy.  Today, Stanford student and CDD assistant Aditi Narayanan interviews Taren Lynn, a participant in this – as they discuss the feeling of meeting with people from across the country and how disagreements and tensions can be resolved peacefully.  This interview was edited by another Stanford freshman, Cameron Lange.

• Interview of Taren Lynn
• Eric Frydenlund: Everyone has a story if we’re willing to listen Wisconsin State Journal 

After America in One Room

• Listen to Alice Siu as she talked what happened after on the Civil Squared podcast.

Courses on Deliberative Democracy

• James Fishkin: COMM 137W: The Dialogue of Democracy (AMSTUD 137, COMM 237, POLISCI 232T, POLISCI 332T)
• Alice Siu: COMM 138: Deliberative Democracy Practicum: Applying Deliberative Polling (COMM 238)PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE: NAVIGATING POLARIZATION, DELIBERATION, AND CIVIL DISCOURSE
• CDD and Close Up: Learn Deliberative Democracy. This course is for high school students. Course details here.
• Join our deliberations
  We have ongoing deliberative events at high schools and colleges around the world. If you, your class, or your school would like to take part in deliberations with us, please reach out to us using the interest forms below. If you would like to learn more about our deliberations in schools, please visit this webpage.
  High school interest form
  College (post-secondary) interest form

Voices of Shaping Our Future

Imagine a world where forming policy was less about cutting through red tape, and more about listening to people for building a better tomorrow. Two of the most widely discussed social issues facing our society today center around our CLIMATE and ECONOMIC INEQUALITY. While many people are divided on these issues, and there are a variety of ideas involving how they should be handled, we were curious to know what the younger generation thought about these topics.

In May 2021, more than 600 young people from across the country were brought together online to discuss their insights on these issues in small groups, listen to panel experts answer their questions, and interact with each other regardless of whether or not they agreed on the topics being discussed. In this podcast, we speak with some of those participants and get their thoughts on the conversations they had during the 2021 “Shaping Our Future” event.

• Apple
• Spotify

Recent Publications