Toward Wiser Public Judgment

This work revisits and expands on Daniel Yankelovich's seminal 1991 book, Coming to Public Judgment, which argued that people advance through several distinct stages to form politically meaningful judgments about public issues. In particular, citizens must "work through" the temptation to opt for easy answers or engage in wishful thinking, reconcile conflicting values, and come to terms with tough tradeoffs before they can truly support a new course of action, The present work examines these themes in light of changing societal conditions, from the advent of the Internet and the weakening of traditional media to the proliferation of urgent and complex problems that cannot be put off without courting disaster.

In his lead chapter, Dan Yankelovich urges us to move away from a "misleading model of public opinion" that "dominates the expert culture of our society, including journalists, scientists, business leaders, scholars, professional experts, and political leaders." He and the other contributors (Will Friedman, Keith Melville, Robert J. Kingston, Alison Kadlec, Steven A. Rosell, and Heidi Gantwerk) describe methods used by their organizations—Public Agenda, National Issues Forums, and Viewpoint Learning, Inc.—to advance the public's learning curve through various forms of civic engagement, education, dialogue, and deliberation.

While our political culture resonates with the public's desire for a stronger voice, it fails to ensure that this voice reflects anything more than the spin, spectacle, and excessive partisanship that dominate today's public discourse. Toward Wiser Public Judgment offers insights and strategies to counteract these troubling trends.

Daniel Yankelovich, chairman and co-founder of Public Agenda, is the initiator of the New York Times/Yankelovich Poll and the author of twelve books. A founding president of the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics, he is also chairman emeritus of the Educational Testing Service.

Will Friedman is president of Public Agenda, where he founded its public engagement department in 1997 and its Center for Advances in Public Engagement in 2007. He was previously senior vice president for policy studies at the Work in America Institute.