Americans like democracy, but don’t believe it or US institutions are working well, poll finds

About half of U.S. adults believe democracy is functioning “very” or “moderately” poorly in the United States, while only around one-quarter think it’s doing “very” or “moderately” well, according to a new poll, marking a sharp decline from several decades ago when majorities thought democracy was generally working the way it should.

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.

Few U.S. adults doubt their fellow Americans’ commitment to strong democracy, according to the poll, but they’re less certain about their political leadership. More than 4 in 10 Americans do not believe their leaders are committed to having a strong democracy, while about 3 in 10 say they’re not sure.

Meanwhile, only about one-quarter believe government decisions reflect what a majority of people want done or attempt to serve citizens’ best interests.

The poll is part of a project initiated by Gallup and the Charles F. Kettering Foundation that studies how Americans experience democracy. The report released Thursday is based on a survey of more than 20,000 U.S. adults conducted in July and August. It comes at a tumultuous time in American politics, marked by extreme polarization, rapid social change and deep economic anxiety, and as the country prepares to commemorate next year’s 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

Dissatisfaction with democracy’s performance across party lines

The sense that democracy is not working is more widespread among Democrats, whose party is out of power. That includes Doug Perry, a 55-year-old 3D modeler in Sarasota, Florida.

“I think it is falling apart,” Perry said, blaming President Donald Trump and citing the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol to overturn Trump’s loss in the 2020 election as evidence that many Americans no longer believe in democracy.

Only those who identify as “strong” Republicans are substantially more likely than Democrats and independents to say democracy is performing “very” or “moderately” well. Bobbi Black, a Republican who is a retired nurse in suburban Des Moines, Iowa, is not one of them.

She cited the recent government shutdown, the longest on record, and Congress’ general inability to agree to bipartisan deals as bad signs for democracy. She also worries about how former President Joe Biden’s age affected him while in office and how he could have been elected without people aware of that risk.

“Democracy let us down, because he should have never been promoted to that position,” Black said.

Biden won the Democratic presidential primary in 2020, defeating a diverse field of rivals, and beat Trump in his reelection bid in both the popular vote and Electoral College.

Low confidence in Congress and the criminal justice system

A separate Gallup poll conducted in 2023 found that only about 3 in 10 U.S. adults were “satisfied” with the way democracy was working, compared to about 6 in 10 who expressed satisfaction with how it was functioning in 1984, when Gallup began to ask the question in its surveys.

Gallup’s findings are in line with other surveys that have found concerns about democracy’s functioning in both the United States and across the globe, even as a 2024 Pew survey found that people in other democratic countries prefer it to alternate forms of government.

The Gallup survey found that in the U.S., people who are struggling economically are especially likely to have a sour view of democracy’s performance.

But the overall disappointment with democracy also extends to the country’s institutions.

No more than one-third of Americans say that any of the country’s systems, branches of government or democratic ideals are performing “very” or “moderately” well. Only about 2 in 10 believe that Congress, the criminal justice system, the division of power between federal, state and local governments, and the division of power among branches of government are doing well. A similar share say this about the idea that all people are treated equally under the law.

“Most institutions are holding on by a thread,” said Antonio Gonzalez, 39, of Delray Beach, Florida, who works in marketing. “We have a quickly changing world, but most of these institutions are run by octogenarians.”

The poll also found Americans feeling alienated from their elected officials.

Many Americans aren’t confident that the decisions of the government reflect the will of the people or are sensitive to the interests of people like them. That’s particularly true of older people, LGBT adults or those who are struggling to get by financially.

Mixed views about the ease of voting

One bright spot is that most Americans feel the way elections are administered is going at least “okay.”

Only about 3 in 10 believe it is reasonable to assume that those who oversee elections have acted improperly when election outcomes are surprising, while about one-third neither agree nor disagree and about one-third don’t think this is true.

Only about 1 in 10 think voting procedures and laws do not make it easy for people like them to vote. Black people, young adults and those struggling economically are less likely to say voting is easy for people like them.

Jesse Sutton, a 54-year-old who works in school finance in Detroit, said he finds voting easy in Michigan but worries about how some Republican-run states have tightened their rules on how to cast ballots.

“It varies by state,” the Democrat, who is Black, said of the ability to participate in democracy.

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The Kettering Foundation-Gallup survey of 20,338 U.S. adults was conducted in English between July 7 and Aug. 25. The probability-based Gallup Panel recruited 9,157 respondents for the study and supplemented them with 11,181 respondents from a third-party sample provider. The margin of error for the full sample was 0.9%.