We all know how divided our world feels today. Political polarization makes real conversation harder, and too often, people stop listening altogether.
That’s why the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana and LSU’s Reilly Center for Media & Public Affairs are partnering on survey research and programming to understand and reduce political polarization in Louisiana, while promoting dialogue and civic thought.
The nonpartisan Common Ground Project explores what it means to communicate in a polarized world and provide LSU students and Louisiana citizens with information and opportunities for engaging constructively across ideological lines and viewpoints.
The Common Ground Project consists of the following initiatives:Â
- Pizza & Public Affairs
- Civic Sips
- The Common Ground Survey
In recent years, Louisiana has seen increased ideological clustering, especially between urban and rural communities, alongside growing distrust in the media, government and even neighbors with different views. These trends have undermined the foundations of democratic problem-solving.
The Reilly Center and PAR hope the Common Ground Project will engage communities to identify shared values, rebuild trust across divides and respond to the structural and cultural drivers of division in Louisiana’s civic landscape.
Check out Louisiana Public Broadcasting’s video about the Common Ground Project:
Read PAR and the Reilly Center’s guest column about the Common Ground Project:
PIZZA & PUBLIC AFFAIRS
Sept. 3 | 12 P.M. | Holliday Forum, Journalism Building LSU
This monthly on-campus discussion series for LSU students features a guest speaker (such as a public official, civic leader, public affairs practitioner or expert on polarization) who, in a casual dialogue format over free pizza, will share with students how they have achieved successful policy or program outcomes by building coalitions and communicating in a way that bridges division.Â
The next Pizza and Public Affairs on Thursday, Sept. 3 will be joined by Dr. Kim Hunter Reed, Louisiana’s Commissioner of Higher Education. Reed will discuss the collaborative efforts shaping the state’s education-to-employment pipeline and the future of higher education in Louisiana, along with answering questions from the audience.
Check out moments from our past Pizza & Public Affairs events with former Gov. John Bel Edwards, Arnessa Garret, Johanna Dunaway, Liz Mangham, Clay Young and Rep. Jack McFarland.
CIVIC SIPS SERIESÂ
Nov. 12 | 6-8 P.M. | TBA
This discussion series is designed to bring people together in a relaxed setting to share a drink and meaningful conversation. At Civic Sips, we’ll talk about what matters: civic responsibility, media literacy, state policy, and most importantly, how we can connect across differences in a polarized world.
Thank you to everyone that attended the Aug. 13 Civic Sips! Throughout the evening, we explored perspectives on the nation’s founding and discussed how our enduring principles may help ease today’s divides.
With over 300 people in attendance between the last four events, Civic Sips has attracted a broad and diverse range of ages, races and professional backgrounds. Fighting polarization starts with open, honest conversations about our shared commonality, and Civic Sips is a place where people can come together and discuss how to diffuse today’s polarized debates.
THE COMMON GROUND SURVEY
The 2026 Louisiana Common Ground Survey provides a statewide portrait of political attitudes, civic life, media use, institutional trust and cross-partisan relationships.
The poll is part of the Common Ground Project, a nonpartisan partnership between the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana (PAR) and LSU’s Reilly Center for Media & Public Affairs that seeks to understand and reduce polarization in Louisiana, while promoting dialogue and civic thought.
Academic research on polarization suggests that traditional measures partly capture people’s opinions of something like caricatures, with news and social media amplifying the beliefs of the extreme ends of the political spectrum. Research also points to at least one way to counter the problem: by encouraging more face-to-face interpersonal experiences.
The Common Ground Project builds off that idea, not only studying what it means to communicate in a polarized world but also providing LSU students and Louisiana citizens with real-world opportunities for engaging constructively across ideological viewpoints.
The poll was conducted by LSU’s Public Policy Research Lab and focused on gauging measures of polarization across the state, compared to national trends, as well as areas of shared values, trust in institutions, civic participation and media use.