Third Way

Social policy and politics:in 2024, third way's social policy, education and politics team focused on three core areas: 1) defining what american want from washington; 2) centering value in the higher education debate; and 3) addressing threats on social issues:defining what americans want from washington: third way's politics team answered this question by: --utilizing electoral data sources including the catalist voter file, cooperative election study, and ap votecast, to draft reports analyzing and explaining the american electorate and differences in opinion, worldview, and voting behavior across states and districts with a focus on key presidential and senate states and battleground house districts; --conducting qualitative and quantitative public opinion research to better understand what voters prioritize, how they think about current issues under discussion in the administration and congress, and what they want from candidates and policymakers; --building a case against running a well-financed third-party candidate in the 2024 presidential election by employing historical and empirical data to show this candidate would have no path to victory and could only play a role as a spoiler for voters; and, --tracking how ideological divergent candidates fare in primary and general elections in 2024 to continue years of work showing americans continue to gravitate to mainstream candidates over extremism.centering value in the higher education debate: third way's education team continues to lead a coordinated movement to change the federal policy narrative on higher education from cost to return on investment and socialize a slate of actionable, defensible solutions to improve postsecondary value, quality, and accountability for students and taxpayers. Third way advanced these efforts by:--hosting the program's largest event to date, the higher ed value summit, a conference that brought together experts in the field, including former department of education under secretary james kvaal and other notable influencers, for a day of learning and connection on the biggest barriers to centering value in the industry.--conducting landmark public opinion research on high school students, demonstrating that young americans still see value in pursuing a college degree and understanding their barriers to that pursuit. --publishing the fourth annual economic mobility index, along with a dedicated website for our value metrics, to celebrate colleges and universities that open their doors to students from low-income backgrounds and prioritize their success.--championing the postsecondary student success grant program to support evidence-based college retention and completion programs and making the case for making this fund permanent.--weighing in on the formation of a new college accreditor and how they're developing their accrediting standards to hold them accountable to their role in the process of improving outcomes for students. --developing policy ideas for improving the graduate student lending system, which currently drives our high outstanding federal student debt and takes advantage of unrestricted taxpayer dollars.addressing threats on social issues: third way remains committed to addressing threats to american values and vulnerable populations on key social and cultural issues. Third way employed various tactics to make progress on crime, immigration, and lgbt rights in the past year. This included:--conducting and releasing public opinion research with outside partners on voters' perceptions of crime. --testifying at a congressional hearing on crime to push back on the narrative that crime is rampant in states like california and minnesota due to criminal justice reforms.--publishing and presenting public opinion research on voters' perceptions on immigration and the senate's bipartisan border bill. --releasing a series of memos pushing back on misinformation on issues related to immigration like migrant crime, mass deportation, noncitizen voting, and more.--educating legislators on the title ix congressional review act (cra) vote and how it would make students less safe.

Economics program:in 2024, third way's economic program focused on three core areas: 1) making the middle class more affordable and attainable for non-college educated workers; 2) strengthening the affordable care act and lowering health care costs; and 3) expanding entrepreneurial opportunity in america.making the middle class affordable and attainable: there are two americas today-one for the college educated and one for those without four-year degrees. Workers in these economies are worlds apart-the type of work they do, how they receive their pay, when they start their workday, and the benefits they get from employment are night and day. Much more must be done to make a middle-class life more affordable and attainable for all workers-but especially those without a four-year college degree. Work included:--deep analysis of the non-college workforce, including how they fared over the pandemic, experiences of non-college veterans, economic realities of non-college women, and how work has separated based on education level.--research into how artificial intelligence impacts the economy, workforce, and small businesses.--assessment of how different policies impact economic mobility, including paid leave and postsecondary training.lowering health care costs: even with the immense success of the affordable care act (aca), health care costs will continue to rise, millions continue to be uninsured or underinsured, and over 100 million americans have medical debt. Fortunately, the aca provides a strong foundation to build upon, and there are numerous ways to finish the job that the aca started and make health care affordable and accessible to all. Work included:--analysis of the us health system, including how the aca is helping to protect patients, why some hospitals succeed and others do not, and how hospitals are financed throughout the country.--showing how to lower costs by modernizing hospitals, including banning facility fees, improving charity care, and reforming incentives that encourage consolidation.--making the case on how medical debt affects the middle class and how to reduce medical debt for millions across the country.expanding entrepreneurship: starting a business has always been a key part of the american dream. And yet, entrepreneurship in this country is exceptionally hard. Twenty-one percent fail in their first year, and only 50% are still in business after five years. More must be done to remove barriers to starting and scaling businesses, especially for disadvantaged communities. Work included:--extensive research unpacking who owns businesses in america, how those businesses are faring, and barriers to entrepreneurship.development of policy ideas that would make it easier for more people to start and scale ventures, including how to triple the number of exporters, reform the federal contracting system, increase capital access, and help more people take the first step in business ownership.

National security program:in 2024, the national security program focused most exclusively on artificial intelligence, both domestically and as it relates to china. It is clear now that ai is the new arms race and that both the united states and china are well ahead of the rest of the world. Each country has a different model on how it will develop ai and each has goals on how it is regulated in deployed. Us-china on ai and the power competition: more than ever, the us-china competition will be decided by digital technology and ai. The national security program highlighted the importance and challenges the us faces with china. --the ai race will be shaped by the values each country holds. Third way dissected the major values america and china bring to ai innovation and informed policymakers and the public how it may determine who wins the ai race. --in third way's paper titled clash of the tech titans, we argued to the public and policymakers that the frontlines in the us-china digital competition are the companies. Third way educated the public on what each company does, how they compete, and the threat the chinese companies pose to national security and privacy. --third way's paper china's nervous neighbors educated policymakers and the public on how america's alliances are deep, but china's are transactional. While america's neighbors are true friends and partners; china's neighbors are wary and nervous. Third way explained china's capabilities of repression through ai, mass surveillance, relentless censorship, and automated disinformation operations that threaten global freedoms;--third way made the case that a digital pro-democracy model is needed to set international norms and standards to compete against the ongoing proliferation of china's digital autocracy model.artificial intelligence: how should policy makers view artificial intelligence a threat, an opportunity, both? Third way explored both ends of the spectrum:--third way educated policymakers and the public on what is new in artificial intelligence and argued that competition is good. --third way explored a new ai topic called agentic ai and explored the ramification for policymakers.--should ai be developed in a closed or open model? Third way analyzed the plusses and minuses of open source ai to help policymakers better understand this complicated and technical issue. --third way drafted many other papers on ai, held and attended dinners for policymakers aimed at exploring the contours of ai, participated in panels, and made many media appearances.