In a 2024 article in Science, Robb Willer, former PhD students Jan Voelkel and James Chu, and colleagues report the results of a large-scale experimental initiative that evaluated short, scalable interventions aimed at reducing anti‑democratic attitudes, support for partisan violence, and partisan animosity among Americans. The Strengthening Democracy Challenge crowdsourced 252 ideas from academics, practitioners, and civic leaders worldwide. From these ideas, the research team selected 25 promising interventions—such as videos, text prompts, chatbots, quizzes, and storytelling—to be tested in a uniform, randomized controlled megastudy involving over 32,000 participants.

Evaluations focused on three key outcomes—anti‑democratic attitudes, partisan violence support, and animosity. Each intervention was delivered online in under eight minutes.

Results were quite promising: 23 of 25 interventions significantly reduced partisan animosity—some equivalent to erasing eight years of polarization growth. Additionally, several interventions decreased support for undemocratic practices and partisan violence, with impacts sustained over two-week follow-ups. Interventions emphasizing shared identity, empathy, or misperception correction were particularly effective.

The findings offer a powerful evidence base—a toolkit of effective, durable, and scalable strategies—for policymakers, civic organizations, media platforms, and educators to help bridge partisan divides and strengthen democratic norms across the United States.