In India, 85% of respondents to a 2023 survey said that military rule or rule by an authoritarian leader would be good for the country. India’s share was the highest among the 24 countries surveyed. Notably, the share of Indians who said that it is important for Opposition parties to operate freely was the third lowest among the countries surveyed. In 2023, the share of Indians who believed that representative democracy is a good way of governance declined considerably from 2017, when the same survey was conducted. Interestingly, a very high share of Indians also wanted experts to rule and not elected officials.
These were some of the conclusions of the Pew Research Center’s Spring 2023 Global Attitudes Survey. In India, face-to-face interviews were conducted between March 25 and May 11, 2023, among adults. The north-eastern States and the Andaman and Nicobar and Lakshadweep Islands were excluded. The sample was selected in a way that proportionally represents Indians across gender, age, education, region, and urbanity.
The survey asked about preferences for two types of authoritarian governance: one led by a powerful leader who operates without the need for approval from legislative or judicial bodies (authoritarian leader) and another governed by the military (military governance). Public support for at least one of these governance models varied significantly across countries, with 85% in India showing support in contrast to just 8% in Sweden. Such support was more prevalent in middle-income countries than in wealthier ones. Further, a higher proportion of respondents from countries in the Asia-Pacific, Africa, and Latin America expressed support for these models compared to those from Europe and North America.
