In early summer 2026, New America and Fix Our House commissioned a poll of 1,000 Americans to explore their views on the principles of proportional representation. The survey shows that Americans are frustrated with the status quo and support a different way of electing Congress members. About 75 percent of Americans say Congress is working not very or not well at all, 53 percent are not satisfied with how American democracy works, and 65 percent are very or somewhat concerned with gerrymandering.

While most Americans are not aware of alternatives to the current electoral system, they are broadly in support of the core principles underpinning proportional representation.

Key Findings

• About 47 to 50 percent of Americans support proportional representation.
• 57 percent think Americans would be better represented with more political parties.
• Majorities of Americans (71 to 76 percent) are concerned with various examples of vote to seat disproportionalities.
• 61 percent would prefer several representatives for larger areas.
• 54 percent strongly or somewhat support expanding the House of Representatives.

Below are the topline findings from the survey commissioned by New America and Fix Our House. For more information, including detailed crosstabs, please contact Lee Drutman or Oscar Pocasangre.

Methodology

The survey was fielded by Verasight. Data was collected from June 30 to July 7, 2026 from a sample of 1,000 adults in the United States. The data are weighted to match the May 2026 Current Population Survey on age, race/ethnicity, sex, income, education, region, and metropolitan status, and to a running three-year average of partisanship distributions from the Pew Research Center National Public Opinion Reference Survey (NPORS) and population benchmarks of the 2024 vote. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3.2 percent.

Respondents were recruited via email from the Verasight Community. Respondents in the sample passed all data quality assurance checks, which include confirming that all responses correspond with U.S. IP addresses, confirming that there are no duplicate respondents, verifying the absence of non-human responses, removing respondents who failed in-survey attention and/or straight-lining checks, and removing respondents that completed the survey in less than 30 percent of the median completion time.

Results

Views of the Status Quo

Demand for Proportional Representation

Proportional Representation Trade-Offs

Recognition of Proportional Representation

Gerrymandering and Reform