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The proportion of people dissatisfied with democracy is growing in the U.S. and internationally, a new survey from Pew Research says.

According to the new survey, 31% of Americans said they were satisfied with the way democracy is working in the U.S., compared to 68% who said they were dissatisfied. In 2021, 41% of Americans said they were satisfied with the function of U.S. democracy.

In a survey that included citizens from 31 democracies throughout the world, just four had a higher proportion of satisfied respondents. Peru has the population most dissatisfied with its democracy, with 89% upset with how the government is functioning. According to The Associated Press, Peru President Dina Boluarte has been under investigation for allegedly acquiring an undisclosed collection of luxury watches since working for the government.

Greece is the nation next-most dissatisfied with its democracy. Like many Western nations, Greece has struggled with the cost of living, prompting Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to make changes within his cabinet to focus on the economy.

Colombia and South Africa also had a high proportion of citizens dissatisfied with their democracy.

Several nations saw large drops in support for their respective democracies. The United Kingdom saw its democratic satisfaction go from 60% in 2021 to 39% in 2024. South Korea saw a drop from 53% satisfaction to 36%. Canada went from 66% to 52%.

Of the 31 nations surveyed, 54% said they were dissatisfied with their government's democracy, compared to 45% who were satisfied.

Singapore, India and Sweden reported having the highest satisfaction with their nations' democracies.

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More people becoming dissatisfied with the function of democracy, survey finds - Scripps News

Labour Party placards reminding UK voters about the upcoming July 4 elections. (John Keeble/Getty Images)

Voters in the United Kingdom head to the polls on July 4 for the countrys first general election since 2019. Ahead of the election, Britons see the state of the UK in relatively bleak terms.

No major political party receives a favorable rating from a majority of the British public. Few think the nations economy is in good shape. And people are more dissatisfied than satisfied with the state of democracy in their country, according to a Pew Research Center survey of 1,o17 British adults, conducted Jan. 11-March 9, 2024. (The survey was conducted before British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak officially called for an election.)

This Pew Research Center analysis examines how people in the United Kingdom view the countrys major political parties, its economic situation and the way democracy is functioning.

Data comes from a survey of 1,017 adults in the UK conducted by random-digit dial from Jan. 11-March 9, 2024. The survey is weighted to be representative of the adult population in the UK with the following variables: gender, age, education, region and probability of selection of respondent.

Here are the questions used for this analysis, along with responses, and the survey methodology.

None of the four major British political parties we asked about in our survey the Labour Party, the Liberal Democrats, the Conservative Party and Reform UK receive net positive ratings from the British public.

This year, 35% of Britons have unfavorable views of both the Labour and Conservative parties. This is up 7 points since last year and has nearly doubled since the fall of 2020, when 19% had unfavorable views of both of the countrys dominant parties.

By way of comparison, this is also higher than the 28% of Americans who had unfavorable views of both the Republican and Democratic parties in 2023.

In the UK, people who identify with the Conservative Party are, unsurprisingly, more likely to have a favorable view of the party (74%) than those who identify with Labour (13%) or who say they do not feel close to any party (25%). But even among people who identify as Conservatives, the share who have a favorable view of their party has fallen in recent years. In 2020, 89% had a positive view.

Labour Party supporters, for their part, are more likely than Conservatives to have a positive view of their own party: 87% do. And the share who feel this way has been largely consistent in recent years.

Few in the UK (22%) think their countrys economy is in good shape. With 78% saying its in poor shape, Britons are more negative about their countrys economy than people in most of the other countries we surveyed this year.

Conservative Party supporters (27%) are more likely than Labour Party supporters (18%) to think the economy is in good shape as is often the case with members of a countrys governing party or coalition, according to our research. But even among Conservatives, positive views of the economy have fallen sharply in the last three years.

Today, more in the UK are dissatisfied than satisfied with the state of their countrys democracy (60% vs. 39%). As recently as 2021, 60% of British adults were satisfied with their democracy.

Conservative Party supporters are more likely than Labour Party supporters to be satisfied with democracy in their country (55% vs. 40%). Once again, weve found this is common for supporters of a countrys governing party.

But Conservative Party supporters are much less satisfied today than they were a few years ago, when around three-quarters or more were happy with the way democracy was working in the UK.

Note: Here are the questions used for this analysis, along with responses, and the survey methodology.

See the article here:
Ahead of UK election, dissatisfaction with economy and democracy - Pew Research Center

More than a year ago, as leading voices on opposite ends of the Democratic spectrum, we sounded the alarm that third-party candidates could once again hand the White House to Republicans. The candidacies of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Jill Stein have made that threat more real now than ever before.

Trump has attempted to muddy the waters by characterizing RFK Jr. as a Democrat plant and a radical left liberal. No one should be fooled by this desperate attempt to define RFK Jr. as a liberal, or even a Democrat. His policy stances read more like a resume to be Trumps running mate. He and third-party candidate, Jill Stein, are parroting views right out of the MAGA/Vladimir Putin playbook and yet, perhaps counterintuitively, they risk dividing the anti-Trump coalition and putting a convicted felon back in power.

Neither third-party candidate has any chance of winning the presidency. But, for a moment, lets put aside their lack of a path to 270 electoral votes and talk about their agendas.

RFK Jr. came to national prominence as a conspiracy monger and anti-vaxxer. Since then, he sounded even more like a MAGA radical: he has argued for a 15-week national abortion ban, declared that the government can do nothing to restrict gun violence, said climate change is a pretext for clamping down totalitarian controls, and proclaimed that Biden is a greater threat to U.S. democracy than Trump. He also released a YouTube video on the Ukraine war riddled with so much Russian propaganda and misinformation it took one journalist almost 3,000 words of analysis to correct the record.

Stein has echoed similar MAGA sentiments, also arguing that the U.S. is at fault for Putins war. She has a long history of touting Russian propaganda, and after dining in Moscow with Putin and Trump aide Michael Flynn, she received help from Russian election-meddlers during her 2016 run.

Its no coincidence that this time, Stein has directed her attacks exclusively at Democrats and Biden not Trump. She has lied about Bidens climate laws, lied about his expansion of the Affordable Care Act, lied about his immigration policy, and accused Democrats of being fascists posing a threat to democracy.

These are not the views of radical left liberals. Indeed, they are antithetical to Democratic values and the MAGA elite know it. Beyond a long list of MAGA endorsements, there are some eye-popping donations from Trump allies to these supposedly independent candidates. RFK Jr.s super PAC, American Values 2024, got $25 million from Timothy Mellon, a MAGA financier who has also donated tens of millions to Trump.

There is a reason MAGA donors see bankrolling third-party candidates as money well spent: they know a strong third-party showing even from those spouting MAGA rhetoric is going to help Trump and hurt Biden.

Biden won previous third-party voters by 30 points in 2020. Young voters, moderates, and independents all top targets for the Stein and RFK Jr. campaigns backed Biden by double digits last cycle. Recent polling shows that a multi-candidate race this cycle could siphon off those exact voters. The national polls tracking Stein and RFK Jr.s on their impact on the race remain fluid, but simple math shows that if a tiny percentage of these voters in the swing states back RFK Jr. and Stein this November, they could tip several battlegrounds from Biden back to Trump.

Simply put: There will be no President Kennedy or President Stein. But third-party candidates could determine who holds the White House. That happened in 2000 and in 2016, and the data and evidence suggest it could happen again in 2024.

MoveOn and Third Way represent different views about the future of the Democratic Party, but we share a common goal: protecting our democracy and fundamental freedoms by ensuring Donald Trump is defeated.

Democrats failed to take the third party threat seriously in 2000 and 2016, and they cannot make the same mistake again in 2024. RFK Jr. and Stein are on the Red Team, and a vote for either could help Trump retake power and destroy our most sacred institutions. We have to sound the alarm now.

Read the rest here:
No debate: RFK Jr. is a threat to Democracy - Salon

Nearly 100 organizers, affiliates, and Cambridge residents gathered on Mount Auburn St. Sunday afternoon to protest the July 1 closing of the Democracy Center, a meeting place for activists and nonprofit organizations.

The Foundation for Civic Leadership, which owns the building, announced the centers indefinite closing for renovations in an April 2 email to affiliates, writing that the building would be used for different purposes going forward. The announcement sparked frustration and shock from local activist groups, many of which hold regular meetings at the center and rely on the building for office space.

Organizers previously asked FCL leadership to reconsider the closing at two April meetings, but FCL President Ian T. Simmons 98 has held that the decision is not changeable. However, the FCL did announce the formation of an advisory council following criticism from the Cambridge City Council.

According to Alan B. Palm, executive director of the Better Future Project and a speaker at the rally, a community advisory council formed by a group of local activists requested negotiations with the FCL to begin on May 21, but the FCL maintained that they alone will make the decision to close the center.

Some of the organizers are set to meet with FCL leadership this Thursday, which Palm lamented is one business day before the announced closure.

In response to a request for comment, interim FCL Executive Director Sue Heilman reiterated that the building needs to close for renovations and is still set to close on July 1. She added that there has been ongoing communication between FCL and the organizers, whom FCL will keep involved in the process.

In an April meeting, Simmons said the renovations would likely take many, many years. Once they are complete, FCL leaders say the space will become an outlet of Democracy House, an FCL-sponsored organization that inspires rising generations to defend, strengthen, and improve democracy, according to its website.

Simmons has also insisted that local organizations will be welcomed back into the space after the renovations, though some have remained doubtful.

Palm said their demands to pause the closure, to have a transparent and community-led process, to have shared decision-making power, and no retaliation for organizing have been largely ignored.

Despite the minimal acknowledgement of our demands to pause the closure for a community-led process, there still remains so much opportunity for goodwill and for the renovation of the Democracy Center to be a celebration, as it should be, Palm said at the rally.

Speaking into a megaphone from the roof of the Democracy Center, activists led chants of Show me what democracy looks like, to which the crowd responded, This is what democracy looks like.

Several speakers and attendees said the decision to close the center contradicts the principles of accessibility and democracy that it was founded on.

We are here because we believe in democracy. What we are unfortunately encountering is the profound betrayal of democratic principles, said Evan C. MacKay 19, former president of the Harvard Graduate Students Union.

In my time at FCL, we were dedicated to bringing people into the democratic process who were too often excluded, former FCL employee Sam Heller 18 said. Ive been disappointed to see the FCL now close the Democracy Center without transparency.

Does that sound like democracy to you? Heller asked the crowd, who responded with a loud No.

Attendee Kelly Regan said the top-down nature of the decision was hypocritical.

For just one person, or just one entity, to make a decision that impacts everybody in the Cambridge community it doesnt seem fair to me, it doesnt seem right or democratic, Regan said.

So this is not adhering to their own stated values, Regan added.

Dara Bayer, co-director of the Cambridge Holistic Emergency Alternative Response Team, said groups used to relying on the Democracy Center have few other options as Cambridges housing prices continue to increase.

As we know, Cambridge is incredibly gentrified. There are basically no spaces left that are affordable for people to exist in who are trying to build something from the ground up, Bayer said at the rally.

Several speakers at the rally drew attention to recent pro-Palestine organizing outside of the Democracy Center, intermittently leading chants of Free Palestine. A banner draped across the building read Resist Displacement from Gaza to Cambridge and Save the DC, accompanied by the Palestinian flag.

After the rally, attendees and organizers filed into the building for a discussion and planning meeting.

Staff writer Azusa M. Lippit can be reached at azusa.lippit@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @azusalippit or on Threads @azusalippit.

Staff writer Saketh Sundar can be reached at saketh.sundar@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @saketh_sundar.

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This Is What Democracy Looks Like: Democracy Center Affiliates Rally to Protest Closing | News - Harvard Crimson

People around the world generally believe representative democracy is a good way to govern their countries. But as a new Pew Research Center survey highlights, many are dissatisfied with the way it is working. And in several high-income democracies, dissatisfaction has been on the rise.

This Pew Research Center analysis focuses on views of democracy in 31 countries across the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, North America and sub-Saharan Africa.

This analysis draws on nationally representative surveys of 36,412 adults conducted from Jan. 5 to May 15, 2024. All surveys were conducted over the phone with adults in Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Surveys were conducted face-to-face in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ghana, Hungary, India, Israel, Kenya, Mexico, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Thailand. In Australia, we used a mixed-mode probability-based online panel.

In the United States, we surveyed 3,600 adults from April 1 to 7, 2024. Everyone who took part in this survey is a member of the Centers American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. This way nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. Read more about the ATPs methodology.

The survey was conducted right after the 2024 legislative elections in South Korea. In India, Mexico and South Africa, the survey was completed before the most recent elections.

To compare views of those who support the governing party or parties with those who do not, we grouped respondents based on their answers to a question asking them which political party, if any, they identified with in their country. For more, including country specific classifications, read our Political Categorization Appendix.

To compare educational groups across countries, we standardized education levels based on the UNs International Standard Classification of Education.

Prior to 2024, combined totals were based on rounded topline figures. For all reports beginning in 2024, totals will be based on unrounded topline figures, so combined totals might be different than in previous years. Refer to the 2024 topline to see our new rounding procedures applied to past years data.

Here is the question used for this analysis,along with responses, and the survey methodology.

Since 2017, weve regularly asked people in 12 economically advanced democracies how satisfied they are with the state of their democracy. Overall, satisfaction declined in these countries between 2017 and 2019 before bouncing back in 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Since 2021, however, people in these nations have become more frustrated with their democracies. A median of 49% across these 12 nations were satisfied with the way their democracy was working in 2021; today, just 36% hold this view. (The 2024 survey was conducted before the European Parliament elections in June.)

Related: Representative Democracy Remains a Popular Ideal, but People Around the World Are Critical of How Its Working

Satisfaction is lower today than it was in 2021 in nine of the 12 nations where we have asked the question consistently. This includes six countries where satisfaction has dropped by double digits: Canada, Germany, Greece, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Satisfaction has not increased in any of the 12 countries surveyed.

In addition to the 12 countries where the Center has consistently asked about satisfaction with democracy over time, we asked the same question this year in 19 other countries. Across 31 nations polled in spring 2024, a median of 54% say they are dissatisfied with their democracy, while 45% are satisfied.

The countries included in this analysis receive moderate to positive ratings from research organizations that rate the health of democracy, such as the Economist Intelligence Unit, Freedom House and the Varieties of Democracy Project. Countries in our 2024 survey that are classified as autocratic or a hybrid regime by more than one expert source were excluded from this analysis.

Looking across regions, opinions in Europe vary widely: 75% of Swedes are satisfied with their democracy, compared with just 22% in Greece. The same is true in the Asia-Pacific region, where more than three-quarters of Indians and Singaporeans but only 31% of Japanese are satisfied with the way their democracy is working. (Our survey took place before recent elections in India.)

In sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, about two-thirds or more of South Africans, Chileans, Colombians and Peruvians express negative views about their democracies. (Fieldwork in South Africa also took place prior to the countrys recent elections.)

Related: In Their Own Words: What Can Improve Democracy?

How people feel about the way democracy is working is strongly related to how they believe their economy is working. In all 31 nations polled, people who rate the national economy negatively are more likely than those who rate it positively to be dissatisfied with their democracy.

Similarly, how people feel about the governing party in their country is linked to their assessments of democracy. In 27 countries, supporters of the governing party or coalition are particularly likely to say they are satisfied with the way their democracy is working. (Refer tothe Appendixfor country-specific governing party classifications.)

In eight countries Argentina, Chile, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the U.S. people with less education are less satisfied than those with more education with the way democracy is working in their country. And in seven countries Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Germany, Peru, Singapore and South Korea adults under 35 are more satisfied with democracy compared with those ages 50 and older. In other countries surveyed, there are few differences by education level or age.

Note: Here is the question used for this analysis,along with responses, and the survey methodology.

Read more:
Rising dissatisfaction with democracy in high-income nations - Pew Research Center