Taking its inspiration from James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, the Cato Institute’s Center for Representative Government is dedicated to promoting limited, representative government. Today, government offers many new threats to individual freedom and the virtues needed for its preservation. Unfortunately, career politicians, an ever‐expanding government and massive regulatory constraints dominate American political life. The Center and its scholars are working through books, conferences, forums, op‐eds, speeches, congressional testimony, and TV and radio appearances to bring the ideals of individual liberty, civil society, limited government and citizen legislators back to the forefront of American political life.
Center for Representative Government
2019 Survey Report
What Americans Think About Poverty, Wealth, and Work
The Cato 2019 Welfare, Work, and Wealth National Survey of 1,700 Americans investigates attitudes toward the rich and the poor and examines what Americans believe about work, welfare, and social mobility.
Featured Work
Emily Ekins’ survey, “Poll: 62% of Americans Say They Have Political Views They’re Afraid to Share,” is cited on KHOW’s The Situation with Michael Brown
Emily Ekins participates in the event, “The 2020 Voting Experience and Goals for Reform,” hosted by the Bipartisan Policy Center
Campaign Finance and American Democracy: What the Public Really Thinks and Why It Matters
Primo and Milyo contend that American attitudes toward money in politics reflect larger fears about the health of American democracy, fears that will not be allayed by campaign finance reform.