What does the middle want? Effective leadership and results.

Before this November’s election, two scholars — one Democrat and one Republican — observed that neither party seemed interested in building a “national governing coalition.” 

Instead, each side appeases its own inflexible and often extreme interest groups, which helps them raise money and win primary elections at the cost of achieving real, lasting change. 

Unfortunately, old habits die hard in Washington. In the weeks since Donald Trump’s victory, some congressional Democrats have already adopted a familiar posture of resistance, while some Republicans are clamoring to rubber stamp whatever Trump wants. 

Both are missing the message from this election — the first to feature more independents voting than Democrats or Republicans. The vast middle of the electorate doesn’t want resistance or a rubber stamp. They want results and commonsense leadership. 

No Labels has spent years trying to understand what moves and motivates the middle, and we recently distilled our work down to 10 core beliefs that enjoy 50, 60 and 70 percent support or more. The path to building a durable national governing coalition and a better, stronger country runs through these ideas. 

Let’s start with arguably the most important issue of the 2024 election: Immigration. The middle believes America is a nation of laws and immigrants, so we need strong borders and a workable immigration system that welcomes hardworking people from abroad. 

The middle doesn’t like the “E” in DEI. Instead of equity, we want equality of opportunity for every American. We also reject dividing Americans by race. Instead, we endorse Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream of an America where we are all judged by the content of our character, not the color of our skin.  

The middle cares about our kids and grandkids so we want more and better policing to keep our communities safe. We believe the government has a responsibility to provide all children with a good, 21st-century education and one that teaches them the roles and responsibilities of citizenship. And we believe it is immoral and irresponsible for our government to continue spending so much more than it takes in and piling so much debt on the next generation.   

The middle believes justice must be blind and that it is unAmerican for any leader to use government power or the legal system to censor speech or persecute their political opponents.  

The middle wants affordable, practical, sustainable solutions to grow our economy. That’s why we believe in an all-of-the-above energy strategy that provides abundant energy for Americans from oil, gas, nuclear and renewables. We know that America once built the entire Empire State Building in a year, but now it takes years to get a shovel in the ground because of endless and often mindless red tape. So, we believe it must be easier to build things in America. 

Finally, the middle is proud to be American. In an increasingly dangerous world, we believe America is a force for good and in the value of having strong alliances and the strongest military in the world.  

At No Labels, we realize how hard it is to translate these aspirational beliefs into workable legislation and public policy. To help, we've worked to delineate what the core values and beliefs are that drive the middle. Washington — and most importantly, America — can’t get anywhere until we forge agreement across the political spectrum on these ideals.

The middle knows where we want to go. The question now is whether we can find enough courageous leaders willing to take us there. 

Nancy Jacobson is a co-founder of No Labels.