Working with a national U.S. sample and data collected from our work with the nonprofit bridging organization Living Room Conversations, we counter the assertions of conflict profiteers. People in the U.S. are far less polarized than imagined, there is a great deal of trust in the election system, and a subsequent “reveal” strategy of this common ground thus becomes as, if not more, important than the need to “bridge” imagined chasms between citizens. With this strategy in place, those interested in or involved with bridging can further set the conditions for democratic dialogue by designing interventions that involve more and different kinds of people in their work, focusing on long-term impacts, and stretching definitions of participation from dialogue to civic action.

This research note critically examines the structural failures of Mexico’s post-2000 democratic transition, arguing that the rise of illiberal populism under the National Regeneration Movement (Morena) is not the cause but the consequence of a stalled and superficial democratization process. While formal electoral procedures were strengthened, underlying issues such as state capture, elite dominance, widespread corruption, and socioeconomic exclusion remained unaddressed. By reducing democracy to procedural minimalism, political elites failed to deliver substantive democratic outcomes, eroding institutional legitimacy, and fueling public disillusionment.