FAQ

AmericaThinks was founded to give the America people a voice in culture and governance. By 2018, the virtual shouting on social networks had reach new highs. Unruly dissent was on the rise and seemed to be ruled by a few loud voices. AmericaThinks was founded to give every registered voter an equal voice in the marketplace of ideas. The founders believe that one vote – one voice is a great place to begin restoring civility to culture and governance.

AmericaThinks is a 501(c)3 non-profit non-partisan organization that operates as a public charity and in the public interest. It is a voter research organization that specializes in public opinion polling. No one owns a non-profit corporation and it is overseen by a board of directors. Donations to AmericaThinks are tax-deductible. Being chartered as a non-profit voter research organization allows AmericaThinks to validate that all participants are registered voters. In addition, our non-profit status allows AmericaThinks to more easily bring diverse viewpoints together for the common good. AmericaThinks is a genuine effort to help and contribute to present and future generations.

Only a few minutes of your time.

AmericaThinks is a free service to the American voting public. There are no ads, no hidden fees, or additional subscription fees required to participate in any part of AmericaThinks. AmericaThinks will serve the approximately 170 million registered voters from every congressional district in the country.

AmericaThinks is provided free of cost for all registered voters to participate. All registered voters are encouraged to download AmericaThinks on their mobile device or desktop, sign up, and start participating in America democracy today. As part of our core values, AmericaThinks will always be free for all participants and will never sell advertising in order to support our efforts. We believe that AmericaThinks must remain non-profit and donor supported in order to be above reproach and above any allegations of bias. We believe that a significant number of people will identify with our mission and join with us to continue make AmericaThinks free for all participants everywhere.

Our covenant with you is that we take no advertising, sell no lists, nor allow no political campaigns use AmericaThinks. Normally, “free” services actually sell advertising, lists, or access to their users. All of the popular search engines and social media companies profit by selling information about you. At AmericaThinks, you are not the product. AmericaThinks does not profit from selling information about you. Our primary mission is the integrity of our polls. As such, we operate entirely for the benefit of you, the American voter.

AmericaThinks is the messenger - not the message.

Our mission is to help every American voter to be seen for who they are and heard for what they believe. The core of our mission is to act as the messenger for the message of the American voters. Our Advisory Council exists to review polls so that questions are asked in a non-partisan fashion. Any registered voter can participate with AmericaThinks. We will strive to grow participation in AmericaThinks to include every community, every group, and every voter in every congressional district in America.

We believe that honesty is the direct result of anonymity. The foundation for genuine and authentic community is laid when people come together and tell the truth what they think and believe. But an honest community can only be built on a foundation of mutual trust and safety. AmericaThinks hopes to play a part in laying that foundation by protecting the anonymity of your answers.

Yes, AmericaThinks is a polling organization. However, we do not conduct traditional sample-based polling.

Sample-based polling collects the opinions from a few thousand carefully selected people, attempts to adjust those opinions to eliminate statistical bias, and then publishes the results as representative of the entire country.

AmericaThinks is evidence-based public opinion polling that seeks the opinion of all registered voters in America. We do not attempt to adjust any polling results, but instead let the results speak for themselves. AmericaThinks publishes results for each individual congressional district as well as for the entire country.

AmericaThinks is election-grade polling and is the opposite of what has become known as “Internet Polling.”

Various Internet sites and organizations allow people to give their opinion or “cast a vote” during an online poll. These polls have been known as “convenience polls” because websites invite participation from whoever sees the survey invitation or rely on panels of respondents who volunteer to participate in the panel. These polls have little to no control over authentication, participation, validation, anonymity, or vote-buying. The results of those services have such large systemic issues that they are widely considered to be completely unreliable.

A reliable means of collection public opinion from voters must meet criteria that includes:

Are the participants validated as registered voters?

Can a person vote more than once?

How is ballot box stuffing prevented?

Is the response anonymous like a secret ballot?

Can a person verify that their response is recorded and reported correctly?

Can a person verify that their response is included in the results?

Can the responses be audited for accuracy and completeness?

AmericaThinks is unique and the only voter research organization of its kind.

More information on Internet Polls is available from Pew Research Center.

AmericaThinks seeks to discover the unifying principles and values of American voters. Our representative democracy has a critical dependence on the will of the governed. Today, the will of governed has become very difficult to discern because on one hand, too many loud angry voices populate the public square, and on the other hand, many are afraid to express their will for fear of retribution. AmericaThinks will discover the real principles and values of actual voters in each individual congressional district. We will collect opinions on various topics from constituents in every congressional district and publish the tallied results in real-time. We want our elected representatives to know the will of the people that they represent before they make a decision or cast a vote.