Monday Briefing: A Majority of U.S. Voters Say Democracy is Under Threat

Nearly half of all U.S. voters believe that American democracy does not do a good job of representing ordinary people, according to a new New York Times/Siena College poll.

Three-quarters of voters in the U.S. say that democracy is under threat — though their perception of those threats varies widely based on partisan leanings — and a majority of voters believe that the country is plagued by corruption.

The eroding faith in the nearly 250-year-old American system of government follows four years of unparalleled challenges: a violent riot in an attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election; the criminal conviction of Donald Trump; and his continued insistence that the democratic process is rigged.

Those events, colliding with stubborn inflation, divisive culture wars and geopolitical crises, have voters exasperated with American politics and a government that they believe has failed to serve them at the most basic level. Such frustrations have left 58 percent of voters believing that the nation’s financial and political systems need major changes or a complete overhaul.