Shawn Griffiths
The Independent Center released the fourth and final installment to its 2025 State of the Union Poll, highlighting where independent voters, Democrats, and Republicans have the most secure common ground.
The results come from the responses of 500 independents, 500 Democrats, and 500 Republicans and reveal two key areas of common ground:
One, voters across the political spectrum want President Trump and Congress to focus on the economy. More than 8-in-10 Republicans (87%) and Democrats (81%) want to see policy that prioritizes lower prices and inflation reduction.
Additionally, 78% of independents said the same thing.
The second key finding was continued support for cross-partisan cooperation. When asked what the best candidate was to represent the respondent, nearly half of all participants (46%) said someone who worked with both parties.
This is compared to the 19% who said they wanted a candidate who only worked with Democrats and the 24% who said, "only Republicans."
Further, the survey asked if respondents wanted to see Trump "succeed or fail at working across the aisle to enact bipartisan policies as President." A strong majority (62%) said they wanted to see success.
"The data indicates that voters tend to favor political cooperation over strict party alignment," writes Ethan Nelson at The Independent Center.
"With nearly half of respondents preferring representatives who work across party lines and strong majorities supporting bipartisan success, the survey suggests an appetite for cooperative political approaches."
Notably, Republicans drove the high majority that wanted to see bipartisan success from Trump at 83%. Nearly a third of Democrats said they wanted to see Trump fail even if he reached across the aisle.
This is still not as high as the national partisan narrative would suggest. A plurality of Democrats (46%) said they wanted to see Trump succeed if he took a bipartisan approach to policy and governing.
And, the sentiment was shared by 58% of independents.
"These findings may have implications for both the administration and Congress as they consider their legislative approaches in 2025, particularly in addressing fiscal concerns that appear to unite voters across the political spectrum," writes Nelson.
Check out the poll's full topline here as well as Nelson's complete analysis.