Americans widely pessimistic about state of democracy in US: Poll

A mere one in 10 American adults give high ratings to the way democracy works in the United States or how well it represents the interests of most Americans, a new polls has found.

Majorities of adults say that US laws and policies do a poor job of representing what most Americans want on issues ranging from the economy and government spending to gun policy, immigration and abortion, according to a poll conducted and released Friday by the Associated Press-NORC Public Affairs Research Center.

The poll shows that 53 percent say Congress has done a poor job of upholding democratic values, while only 16 percent say it has done an acceptable job.

The findings further suggest widespread political alienation as a polarized country emerges from the pandemic and recovers, weighed down by inflation and fears of recession. In the interviews, respondents were less concerned about the machinery of democracy—the voting rules and tabulation of votes—and more about the outputs.

Overall, about half of the country — 49 percent — say democracy in the United States does not work well, compared with 10 percent who say it works very or very well and 40 percent who say it works only somewhat well. About half of all political parties also say that each political party is doing a poor job of preserving democracy, including 47 percent of Democrats and even more (56 percent) of Republicans.

The poll found that 53 percent of Americans say the views of "people like you" are not well represented by government, 35 percent said they are somewhat well, and 12 percent very or very well. 6 in 10 Republicans and independents feel the government does not represent people like them well, compared to 4 in 10 Democrats.

Karalyn Kiessling, a researcher at the University of Michigan who participated in the survey, sees troubling signs in society. A Democrat, he recently moved to a conservative district outside the center of the liberal Ann Arbor campus, worried that conspiracy theorists who believe former President Donald Trump's lies that he will win the 2020 election are becoming poll watchers.

The poll shows that an overwhelming majority of Americans — 71 percent — think that what most Americans want should be the most important thing when making laws and policies, but only 48 percent think that can be true in practice.

And views on specific issues are even more negative: About two-thirds of adults say immigration policies, government spending, abortion policy and gun policy do not represent the views of most Americans, and about the same number on the economy as well as gender identity and LGBTQ+ issues. More than half also say the policies poorly reflect what Americans want about health care and the environment.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk