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Those early moments of the focus groups were a taste of the unexpected, illuminating and nuanced opinions that surfaced over the course of the discussions, which weve published today as edited transcripts (along with video clips). By using roughly the same questions for each group, we saw some of the predictable partisan divides, but also some overlap: Not only Republicans, but Democrats had some empathy for some of the Americans who stormed the Capitol, seeing them ordinarily as people who had real, understandable frustrations with the system. The rioters took it too far, but their frustrations, with the parties, with Washington, seemed recognizable to some of the Democrats, as my colleague Laura Reston pointed out.

These focus groups are the first in a new series by Times Opinion: We want to explore the views of Americans on the most critical and urgent questions and issues of the moment. While we publish dozens of guest essays and columns a week by experts and veteran writers, we also wanted to find new ways to explore and hear the opinions of wider cross sections of Americans. The focus groups are one small way to listen to the unfiltered voices of people talking about how they see America and its future, and to expand the role of commentary and opinion journalism to include voters who often feel voiceless in the national conversation.

We wanted to kick off the focus groups with a discussion of the health of American democracy, a core priority for Times Opinion and a subject explored with great depth in several guest essays this week about Jan. 6. Rather than hold one focus group featuring just Democrats or Republicans (generally, Ive learned, focus groups dont mix them!), we decided to hold two groups to be able to hear from members of both parties. The firms of Omero and Soltis Anderson oversaw the selection of the participants, striving for a diverse mix that reflected the makeup of the parties. The Times paid Omero and Soltis Anderson to organize and lead these focus groups; they do similar work for political candidates, parties and interest groups.

There were plenty of divisions: The Democrats largely rated the health of our democracy as in critical condition, while the Republicans veered largely between poor and fair. Several Democrats were focused on blaming the system of government and politics in America for the state of democracy and the events of Jan. 6., and there was strong hunger among them for radical change amendments to the Constitution, the abolition of the Electoral College, more term limits, lobbying reform. For some Republicans, the threat to democracy came more from government mandates and guidance on Covid-19, and an unfounded claim that Democrats would use the pandemic to push for more mail-in voting in 2024.

But there was also dissatisfaction with their own party leaders.

Republicans were frustrated with G.O.P. officials whom they viewed as driven purely by self-interest. Several Republicans were willing to criticize Donald Trump, but they did not like the shows of disloyalty by his cabinet members and allies who publicly criticized him. And, as Soltis Anderson noted, some Republicans argued that the rioters were separate from the Stop the Steal protesters on Jan. 6. (Trumps people dont act like that, one Republican said of the rioters.)

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Opinion | What Democratic and Republican Voters Really Think About the State of America - The New York Times