Studies and polling surveys showing tepid support for democracy in the U.S. have been appearing on regular basis for a while. In light of Donald Trump’s “joke” about the U.S. needing a president for life, the findings in a recent poll done by a new research collaborative, the Democracy Fund Study Group, are unsettling. Their study, completed this March, was designed to measure how committed Americans are to democracy in the age of Trumpism.
From their study summary: Specifically, the Democracy Fund Voter Study Group asked respondents to assess the favorability of three types of political systems:
- A strong leader who does not have to bother with Congress and elections;
- Army rule
- A democratic political system.
One slightly reassuring finding in an otherwise discouraging survey of views on democracy is that when given a direct choice, the overwhelming majority of Americans will choose democracy: 75% of all respondents showed some support for democracy and 50% or more favor democracy as the strongest option.
But, when they dug deeper it was found that only a slim majority of Americans (54 percent) consistently express a pro-democratic position across all five of our measures.
And the following: Nineteen percent of respondents express one nondemocratic position, 13 percent express two nondemocratic positions, and 15 percent express three or more nondemocratic positions. Notably, 29 percent of respondents show at least some support for either a “strong leader” or “army rule.”
Other findings show 20% of Hillary Clinton’s primary supporters favor “strong man” option. […] and 15 percent [Clinton primary supporters] go so far as to support “army rule” — both slightly higher than the levels expressed by the primary supporters of Bernie Sanders, John Kasich, Marco Rubio, or Ted Cruz. (Yet Clinton’s primary supporters were more likely to say that democracy is preferable to any other form of government.)
However for those who favor a “strong leader” type, Donald is the one. Among those who voted for Trump in the primaries, 32% support a “strong leader.” Voters who supported Barack Obama switched parties and got behind Trump supported the “strong man” unbound by congress or elections by 45%.
Overall this survey seems like a batch of pretty grim stuff but there is this: [the Democracy Fund study] finds evidence that conflicts with two key findings that have recently raised alarm bells about the state of democracy: We do not find that public support for democracy in the U.S. is declining. Nor do we find higher support among young people for an authoritarian political system.
That’s a pretty slim sliver of light coming out of the storm clouds. But I guess for those optimists favoring democracy, the glass is not half empty. And for all those “strong man” fans who believe past dictators made the trains run on time — remember that assessment was a propaganda myth. Well, maybe the weekend Trump golf train to Mar-a-Lago will be on schedule: the rest of us can try to hitch a ride on a troop transport, or maybe a tank.