It’s naturally concerning that a recent poll on which you report (13 January), and which Owen Jones refers to (Young people are abandoning democracy for dictators. I can understand their despair, 14 January), suggests that one in five young Britons would prefer an unelected dictator to democracy. However, comparing this with a 2022 poll gives rise to a more optimistic view: that among young Britons, support for unelected dictators appears to be falling, while support for democracy appears to be modestly increasing.
In the 2022 poll, by the thinktank Onward, only 72% of 18- to 24-year-olds and 76% of 25- to 34-year-olds agreed that democracy is a fairly or very good system of government (as against 94% of those aged 65-plus), while an astonishing 60% of 18- to 44-year-olds agreed that “a strong leader who does not have to bother with parliament and elections” is a fairly or very good system of government (as against 27% of those aged 65-plus). That poll didn’t ask respondents to choose between democracy and dictatorship, so comparison requires caution, but on any view the generation gap on support for democracy and dictatorship is not new, and the appeal of unelected dictatorship among the young appears to be on the wane.
