PURPLE: Congress Should Be Purple

As the new Congress convenes, members should know that a Americans regardless of political affiliation want members of Congress to be purple. That is, they want Congress to compromise to find solutions rather than stand on principle if it means gridlock according to a recent NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist Poll. 85% of Democrats, 66% of Republicans, and 78% of independents agreed it was more important for Congress to compromise to find solutions.

Unfortunately, a concept that is almost purple is that Americans have no confidence that the political parties can work together - with 64% of both Republicans and independents and 45% of Democrats showing that skepticism.