London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

Overwhelming majority of Americans don't think democracy is working very well, poll reveals

Overwhelming majority of Americans don't think democracy is working very well, poll reveals

Just a small fraction of Americans believe democracy is working very well, though most agree that a democratically elected government is essential to US society, a new poll has shown. Unfortunately, most see things getting worse.
Just 16 percent of Americans believe democracy is working “very well” or “extremely well” in the US, a new AP/NORC poll published on Monday has revealed. Worse, nearly two thirds believe the level of division in the US will either remain constant or even grow over the next five years.

While a slight majority – 54 percent – said they were confident the US’ best days were yet to come, nearly half believe the country is headed in the wrong direction. Democrats tended to be more optimistic than Republicans – not too surprising, given the outcome of November’s election. Indeed, the numbers have essentially reversed with the change of leader in the White House since a similar poll was taken in October.

Back then, just six percent of Democrats believed the US was on the right track, but January’s poll revealed that percentage had soared to 76 percent. Republicans accordingly had dropped about 30 points since the pre-Election Day polls, with just 20 percent believing the US is going the right way in the aftermath of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory. Voters not registered with either party were less thrilled than Democrats by the election results, but less devastated than Republicans.

With Biden in office for just a few weeks, 57 percent of respondents gave him a “favorable” rating, and 70 percent had faith he would respect “democratic institutions” at least a “fair amount.” Trump’s respect for those same traditions received a lowly 37 percent. Around a third of Americans polled still don’t believe the Democrat was elected president, a number that drops even further when one surveys only Republicans, according to the AP.

Just 11 percent of Americans believe the country is united on the “most important values,” according to the poll, while respondents were split almost equally on whether the nation would become more or less united in the coming five years, with nearly another third believing social division will hold steady.

However, when asked to rate issues they considered to be the most important and definitive of American identity, the respondents didn’t seem to have such different values at all. The vast majority (88 percent) chose “a fair judicial system and the rule of law” as a critical piece of American life, followed closely by “individual liberties and freedoms as defined by the Constitution” (85 percent).

While 83 percent held up the ability to “achieve the American dream,” they agreed less on how that was supposed to happen – or to whom it was owed. While more than two thirds thought a “shared American culture and set of values” was very important, just a little over half thought it was very important for people to “come from other places in the world to find economic opportunities.”

Congress certainly didn’t do well either, with 62 percent of Americans overall viewing it unfavorably. Still, that represents a significant improvement over last February, when the Covid-19 pandemic was arriving on American shores, and Congress was too busy trying to impeach the president to do anything about the virus on its doorstep.

Trust in most institutions has been going steadily downward in the US and other Western nations, according to PR company Edelman’s ‘trust barometer’, which measures the phenomenon. In 2021, the media received record low ratings from Edelman, but Congress was viewed even less favorably. Indeed, the only thing worse than being a member of Congress, according to their polling, was being a journalist.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Macron and his wife to provide 'scientific photographic evidence' that she is a real woman
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
×