Less than half of respondents in eight out of nine Western countries are satisfied with where they are, according to an Ipsos poll. In addition, the majority of respondents in all but one of the eight countries fear for the future and consider fake news, lack of political accountability, extremism and corruption as the main risks.
Ipsos’ State of Democracy poll polled around 10,000 people in Croatia, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, the UK and the US, and according to the responses, satisfaction with democracy is low in all of the aforementioned countries except Sweden.
Very few are satisfied with how democracy works
Less than a third of respondents in six countries – 18% in Croatia, 19% in France, 20% in the US, 26% in the UK, 27% in Spain and 29% in Italy – said they felt satisfied with how democracy works in their country.
Opinions were almost evenly split in the Netherlands, where 36% said they were satisfied and 37% dissatisfied, but also in Poland, where 40% said they were satisfied and 31% dissatisfied. On the contrary, Sweden is the only country where the majority declared themselves satisfied with the functioning of democracy, at a rate of 65%.
Most estimate that the situation has worsened over the past 5 years
Across the nine countries, most said the state of democracy had worsened over the past five years, with responses in France and the Netherlands, where governments collapsed within the year, particularly negative, and Poland the exception.
More specifically in France and the Netherlands respondents reported that the way democracy works has worsened by 81% and 75% respectively. A similar view was held by 61% of respondents in the US and 58% of those in Spain and the UK. On the contrary, in Poland, the percentage that considers that the situation has improved is 42%, while 30% claims that it has gotten worse. As for what they expect to happen on the issue in the future, 86% in France, 80% in Spain, 75% in the UK and Poland, 74% in the Netherlands, 73% in Croatia, 69% in the US and 64% in Italy say they are worried about the state of democracy.
What are the biggest dangers to democracy?
Fake news, lack of accountability, extremism and corruption were seen by respondents as the main risks, with disinformation rated as the biggest risk in France (56%), the UK (64%), Sweden (67%), the Netherlands (75%) and Poland (76%). On the contrary, in the USA (63%), Spain (73%), Croatia (80%) and Italy (47%, as well as economic inequality), the biggest risk for respondents is corruption.
According to the poll responses, tougher anti-corruption laws and their effective enforcement, stricter regulation of social media, better education of citizens and protection of the independence of the Judiciary are needed to protect democracy.
A significant percentage wants radical changes to limit inequalities
Despite generally strong support for democracy, there was also a strong desire for radical change, with majorities in most countries seeing the system as “rigged” in favor of the rich and powerful and not working for everyone.
Support for radical change was particularly high in Spain (52%), Italy (55%), Poland and the UK (60%), France (66%) and Croatia (69%).
