Older Americans Believe in Democracy While Younger Ones Are More Skeptical

In the poll, when American participants were asked, “Is democracy the best system?” the answers yielded significant findings that politicians would do well to take note of.

For those who preferred an alternate method of contact, voters were contacted by automated phone calls. The poll conductors warned of a more or less 3% margin of error of the full survey of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents.

Among overall voters, 73% agreed with democracy being the best system (with 50% of them strongly agreeing). Only 13% disagreed.

Compared to the older age group of 65 years and older, where pro-democracy sentiment is at 89% (73% strongly agreeing) and just 6% skeptical, the difference is dramatic.

“The distinction between younger voters and older voters is very stark,” Wagner said. He also suggested that “among younger voters there is a loss of faith in the system and the process. That should cause us to ask why younger voters feel the democratic system is not working for them?”

25% of those polled in the 18-34 age group stated they didn’t agree or disagree. This is 11 points higher than all voters (14%) who shared the same ambivalence. In comparison, among voters aged 65 and older, only 4% didn’t agree or disagree.

Meanwhile, among those who plan to vote for Trump, who will go against Biden as the last Republican standing in the primary, only 63% agreed with democracy as the best form of government, with 18% disagreeing, and 19% ambivalent.

The Republicans’ and Independents’ numbers were even closer. 69% of Republicans agreed with democracy being the best, while 17% disagreed, and 13% ambivalent. Meanwhile, for the Independents, 67% agreed, 15% disagreed, and 19% were ambivalent.

On the other hand, only 68% of those earning $50,000 a year or less agreed (16% disagreed). Wagner said this was not surprising. “If you’re wealthy, it’s pretty easy to say the system is working for you.”

77% of men agreed with “democracy is  best,” while 12% disagreed and 11% neither. Among women voters, 69% agreed, 15% disagreed, and 17% were neither. 

FAU researchers found 46% of voters were satisfied, 39% dissatisfied, and 15% ambivalent about the answers. Trump voters, however, were largely dissatisfied with the way democracy worked in the country as 51% of them expressed dissatisfaction. Conversely, it was the Biden voters who said they were most satisfied (63%).

But he also said, “Many people are missing the fact that younger voters are actually pretty upset about the state of our political universe.” He warned that young voters might not automatically vote for Democrats. In fact, this could signal young voters’ preferences for independent, third-party candidates or for Trump.