US democracy is failing – poll
Many in America are skeptical of the country’s voting system and are pessimistic about the state of US democracy, a new poll conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research suggests.
On Wednesday, AP reported that only about half of Americans today have high confidence that their votes in the upcoming midterm elections will be counted accurately. Nevertheless, the figures are actually higher than two years ago when the figure was four in ten.
Additionally, only 9% of adults in the US said they thought democracy is working “extremely” or “very well,” compared to 52% that said it was not working well.
AP notes that following the 2020 presidential race, which saw Joe Biden beat then-incumbent President Donald Trump, Republicans have become more likely to say that democracy wasn’t working well. 68% of Republican voters said they feel this way today, compared to 32% two years ago. Meanwhile, the number of Democrats pessimistic about US democracy has dropped from 63% in 2020 to 40% today.
The poll, which surveyed 1,121 adults across the US earlier this month, also showed that a large proportion of Republicans have lost faith in the voting system, as 45% expressed little to no confidence that the upcoming midterm elections will be counted accurately. Democrats, on the other hand, seem to be mostly satisfied with the system, with 74% saying they are “highly confident” in the midterm results.
Many Republicans reportedly lost trust in the US voting system after Trump accused Biden of stealing the 2020 presidential election through the use of tampered voting machines and voter fraud, specifically pointing to the mail-in ballots, which ended up tipping the scale in the Democratic candidate’s favor several days after Election Day.
Although Trump’s claims and lawsuits were ultimately dismissed by US courts, some 58% of Republicans still believe that Biden’s election wasn’t legitimate.
AP’s survey comes ahead of the November 8 midterm elections where Republicans could win back a majority in both chambers of the US Congress as many Americans have grown frustrated with the ruling Democratic party, accusing it of failing to tackle inflation, illegal immigration, and rising crime rates, media and analysts report.
