Voters Show Strong Appetite for Proportional Representation, New Poll Finds

A poll commissioned by the advocacy group Fix Our House and the liberal think tank New America surveyed roughly 1,000 U.S. voters. Half of respondents said they support moving the House of Representatives to a proportional-representation system, while nearly a quarter opposed it and a third were unsure. Support was strongest among younger, more educated, and left-leaning voters, yet 60 % of Trump-voter respondents who expressed an opinion also backed the change. The same poll showed 54 % of participants favor adding 150 seats to the House to make proportional representation feasible.

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Earlier this summer, about 500 democracy and legal experts sent a letter to Congress urging adoption of proportional representation as a remedy for partisan gerrymandering. Legislative proposals with all Democratic co-sponsors now call for a study of, or a transition to, proportional representation—though experts say any bill that does not also expand the House is unlikely to advance.

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• 50 % of 1,000 surveyed support proportional representation.

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• 25 % oppose; 33 % undecided.

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• 60 % of Trump-voter respondents who have an opinion support it.

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• Only 2 % could name proportional representation without prompting.

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• About 25 % were aware that alternatives to the two-party system exist.

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• Roughly 70 % of Pew Research Center respondents want more political parties to choose from.

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• 54 % favor a 150-seat House expansion.

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Lee Drutman, senior fellow at New America, said the poll marks a starting point for a national conversation about breaking the two-party lock, noting widespread voter frustration and a lack of language to discuss alternatives. Dustin Wahl, executive director of Fix Our House, emphasized that the underlying values of proportional representation enjoy broad, cross-partisan support even though only a tiny fraction of voters can name the system. Jocelyn Kiley, director of political research at the Pew Research Center, described a “prolonged period of disaffection” and highlighted strong openness to more party choices, while cautioning that detailed knowledge of reforms remains limited.

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• “For every one of those questions, people prefer the proportional system with multiple parties,” — Sponsor Message Lee Drutman, a senior fellow at New America

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• “One thing people said is they already think the parties are pretty extreme right now,” — Sponsor Message Lee Drutman, a senior fellow at New America

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• “People are frustrated. People don't have a language for how to talk about alternatives because they haven't really heard all that much about the alternatives, because we haven't had a national conversation about the alternatives yet. So, there's a lot of room to have that conversation.” — Sponsor Message Lee Drutman, a senior fellow at New America

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• “But when asked about the kind of underlying values beneath it and the component parts, there was widespread support from all across the political spectrum,” — Dustin Wahl

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