With just days left until Election Day, three out of four Americans say in a new survey that US democracy is currently under threat.
That’s according to a recent New York Times/Siena College poll. While 76 percent of Americans say democracy is imperiled, they the cause varies significantly based on partisan leanings.
Meanwhile, 49 percent say that US democracy does a good job of representing the people, with 45 percent saying the opposite.
Most voters – 62 percent – also think that the government is beset by corruption and is mostly working for itself or to benefit elites.
This comes after several chaotic years in US politics with the Capitol riot in 2021 and the recent criminal conviction of former President Donald Trump, who still claims that the 2020 election was rigged despite having no evidence to back up his assertions.
Inflation, culture wars, and foreign wars have left voters unsatisfied with US politics and their government. Fifty-eight percent say the American financial and political system needs to be revamped to serve the people better.
But 78 percent of voters also trust that the 2024 election results will be accurate – two years ago that number was about 70 percent ahead of the 2022 midterm election results.
Americans view the mainstream media and social media as having a bad impact on democracy, with Republicans more willing to blame the news business compared to Democrats.
The polarization in US politics is also affecting what Americans blame for their lack of faith in democracy, with Republicans seeing Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden as negative influences. They also point to mail-in voting, voting machines, immigration and the Justice Department.
Democrats, meanwhile, view Trump as the main threat to American democracy.
This comes as Harris’s rhetoric has turned darker in recent days, warning of the threat of Trump as the campaign enters its final stretch, including saying that he’s a fascist.
But even so, just seven percent of voters say democracy is the most important issue to their vote. Twenty-one percent said that a president should be able to go outside the bounds of the law to do what they think is best – two years ago, that figure was 30 percent.
As many as six in 10 voters don’t think Trump will accept the election results if he loses and almost half say that they are concerned that the former president and his allies will try to overturn the results using unlawful methods. That includes 12 percent of Republicans.
Most voters, Democrats and Republicans, believe that Harris will accept the results, and few are concerned that she will try to overturn the election.
Two years ago, more voters were worried about voter suppression than about fraud. That has now flipped, with Trump’s unsubstantiated claims of illegal voting appearing to have had an effect.
Supporters of Trump and Harris are about as likely to state that democracy is in peril. Those least likely to say so are voters who are recent Trump supporters after backing Biden in 2020 or not voting at all.
