Americans Like Democracy But Don T Believe It Or Us Institutions Are

Leo Migdal

-Dec 3, 2025, 9:53 PM

americans like democracy but don t believe it or us institutions are

Demonstrators rally on Pennsylvania Avenue during a No Kings protest in Washington, Oct. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File) Demonstrators carry a signed banner representing the U.S. Constitution as they march to the national Mall during a No Kings protest in Washington, Oct. 18, 2025.

(AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File) A person holds an American flag upside-down during a “No Kings” protest Oct. 18, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File) About half of American adults believe democracy is functioning “very” or “moderately” poorly in the United States, while only about one-quarter think it’s doing “very” or “moderately” well, according to a poll, marking a... The Kettering Foundation-Gallup survey found that about two-thirds of Americans “strongly agree” or “agree” that democracy is the best form of government.

Very few disagree, with about one-third saying they don’t have an opinion. But alongside the widespread disappointment in how democracy is working, few believe the country’s leaders are committed to democratic governance or think government decisions reflect the will of the people. WASHINGTON, D.C. — Eight in 10 U.S. adults agree on a variety of issues that reflect core aspects of U.S. democracy.

These include that using violence to achieve political goals is never OK; that elected leaders should compromise to get things done; and that having a mix of races, religions and cultures benefits the nation. Americans also express a desire to limit the political influence of wealthy individuals and businesses and believe there is a difference between facts and opinions. These findings are the first from the Kettering Foundation/Gallup Democracy for All Project and are based on a multimodal (web and mail) survey of over 20,000 U.S. adults, conducted July 7 to Aug. 25. This is a five-year project designed to measure Americans’ views of how well democracy serves the U.S.

and Americans from a variety of different backgrounds. The full report details how Americans largely agree that democracy is the best form of government but do not believe it is functioning well right now. As part of the survey, Americans were shown five pairs of contrasting perspectives on how democracy and U.S. society should function and were asked to choose which perspective comes closer to their view. Large majorities of all key subgroups of Americans reject violence, favor compromise and embrace a multicultural society. There are modest differences in some of these views by party, age and education.

For example, Democrats, independents and college graduates are somewhat more likely than Republicans and non-college graduates to see multiculturalism as a strength. Older Americans and Democrats are more likely than younger Americans and Republicans to endorse compromise. Age differences are even more pronounced when it comes to rejecting the use of political violence, with senior citizens most opposed and young adults the least. This relationship will be explored in more depth in an article to be released next week. Another question in the survey, asked on a five-point agree/disagree scale, finds that eight in 10 Americans strongly agree (39%) or agree (41%) that everyone, regardless of their views, has the right to free,... Just 5% disagree, and 15% are neutral.

A new study from the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University and Public Agenda finds that Americans are deeply concerned about the state of U.S. democracy and that growing divisions within the Republican Party deepen partisan divides over how the Constitution should guide presidential authority and the balance of power. The report draws from a national survey of 4,500 Americans, earlier polling, and three focus groups with Republican participants. It builds on prior SNF Agora research documenting Republican disagreement about the legitimacy of the 2020 election. It shows that these differences now extend to views of presidential power, constitutional limits, elections, and trust in government. The research identifies three distinct groups within the Republican Party:

"Americans share deep concern for our democracy, but we do not all have the same reasons," said Andrew Seligsohn, president of Public Agenda. "Republicans in particular are divided between those who support unfettered presidential power and those who believe checks and balances are essential to the integrity of our constitutional order. These differences represent a deep cleavage in the Republican Party with consequences for the future of American democracy." Across parties, most Americans express concern about U.S. democracy: Second release of data from IOP's spring poll shows politicians, money in politics, the media, political correctness, structural racism and access to higher education contributing factors CAMBRIDGE, MA – A new national poll of...

For the first time, the Harvard Public Opinion Project asked a series of questions about how responsible 18- to 29-year-olds believed different groups were for the existing problems in American politics and society today. Politicians were viewed as very or somewhat responsible by at least 7-in-10 young Americans, regardless of political affiliation. Money in politics and the media were mentioned by at least 6-in-10 Democrats, Republicans and Independents. Young Democrats under 30 blamed politicians (77% responsible), Donald Trump (77% responsible), money in politics (75% responsible), structural racism (69% responsible) and lack of access to higher education (66% responsible) as the most significant... The top five factors Republicans believe are responsible are: the media (72%), politicians (70% responsible), political correctness (64% responsible), money in politics (63% responsible), with other Americans (45%), a distant fifth. "Young Americans are deeply concerned and fearful about our country’s future," said IOP Polling Director John Della Volpe.

"There’s a healthy debate raging on the reasons why – politicians, media, big money, political correctness, and structural barriers like racism and access to education are all contributing factors in the eyes of millennials... Yet, there is no debate that young people are working hard to bridge these divides, finding pragmatic solutions and instilling hope for a stronger democracy." Click here to view toplines. Click here to see the poll results on our website. This poll of N=2,631 18- to 29- year-olds, which was organized with undergraduate students from the Harvard Public Opinion Project, was conducted using GfK’s probability-based online sampling methodology between March 8 and March 25,... The margin of error for the poll is +/- 2.54 percentage points at the 95 percent confidence level. Throughout the month of April, we will be releasing additional details and poll results on topics including: gun control, the 2nd Amendment, and the NRA; the border wall, DACA, and immigration policy; sexual harassment,...

military; the opioid crisis; and public service and community service. All results can be found at http://iop.harvard.edu/spring-2018-poll. ### Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 November 2022 Democracy requires factual information and an attentive electorate. The electorate are a key part of a functioning democracy, where they choose between candidates, parties, and policies based on their own political beliefs, which are influenced by information.

Because the world of politics is complex, human beings are bounded in their capabilities for decision making and must develop strategies to navigate through an overwhelming amount of political information to form beliefs and... Political belief systems – or “ideologies” – help people organize this complex political world. However, a large portion of the American public do not have a coherent political belief system, and instead rely on cues and elites to make decisions and form attitudes on the issues of the... This kind of reliance is efficient, but can also lead people to become vulnerable to mis- and disinformation, fake news, conspiracy theories, and extreme polarization, which can have detrimental consequences for democracy. To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your... Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below.

Find out more about saving to your Kindle. Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply. Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Americans Like Democracy But Don T Believe It Or Us Institutions Are

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