Our voter survey data conveys a very important message to Congress: Constituents are accepting of Members voting against their views, so long as they are confident the Member has taken their views into account. We also saw that voters value their interactions with their Senators and Representatives, whether they be through in-person, telephone, or online town hall meetings; social media live-streams and Q&A's; or email. At the root of these findings is that the People want to feel like their voices are being heard by the Members who represent them. And it is in the best interest of Members of Congress for those voices not to fall on deaf ears, for you cannot adequately represent without understanding, and you can't understand without listening.

The Congress is where local concerns—the needs and interests of the People—and federal policy connect. When that connection atrophies so, too, does our democracy. It is our fervent hope that the Congress will adapt in ways that reverse that atrophy, and embrace a vision and practice of citizen engagement that help renew the People's faith in our democratic institutions.

Congress must develop thoughtful and sophisticated strategies to actually listen, demonstrate understanding, and employ empathy with the people they represent. Efforts to change the systemic components of our democracy—the wholesale elements—have largely failed. Campaign finance reform, hyper-partisanship in media outlets, the tribalization of social media—all these macro challenges remain, and have only worsened in recent years. Maybe it's time to focus on the retail level of democracy, where Congress directly interacts with constituents on a one-to-one or one-to-many basis—through postal mail and email, websites, virtual and in-person town hall meetings, events, etc. By embracing these tools with a thoughtful Strategic Constituent Engagement Plan (download), elected officials can create the type of robust democratic dialogue most Members of Congress and constituents long for.

It might sound impractical in nation of 327 million people to bring about change one interaction at a time, yet in 2019 more than 50 million Americans sent an email to Congress. The opportunity is there, so one has to ask, what would be different if Congress changed the way it received, responded to, reacted to, and integrated those 50 million Americans' views into public policy? Maybe the best way to reform democracy and improve the Congress isn't at the wholesale level, but at the retail level . . . one conversation at a time between Senators and Representatives and those they represent.