A recent poll by Ipsos, shared with Politico, reveals growing concerns among Western voters about the state of democracy. 45% of residents in the US, UK, France, Spain, Italy, Sweden, Croatia, the Netherlands, and Poland believe their democracies are ‘broken.’
The study, which was conducted in September, involved 9,800 voters from the aforementioned countries. The findings indicate that seven out of the nine surveyed nations have significant dissatisfaction with how democracy is functioning. Sweden and Poland stand out as the only two countries where a majority of respondents expressed confidence in their systems of self-governance.
France, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Spain showed the highest levels of dissatisfaction, with 60%, 53%, 51%, and 51% of respondents respectively indicating unhappiness with the current state of democracy. The poll highlights concerns regarding the spread of disinformation, the prevalence of corruption, a lack of accountability for politicians, and the growing influence of extremist parties as key threats to the democratic process.
Only 23% of participants in the UK and Croatia believed their governments effectively represented them. A clear majority in most surveyed countries, with the exception of Sweden, are worried about the potential for a decline in self-governance over the next five years. Gideon Skinner, senior director of UK politics at Ipsos, told Politico that “there is widespread concern about the way democracy is working, with people feeling unrepresented particularly by their national governments. In most countries, there is a desire for radical change.” Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously commented on the situation, stating that “the so-called ruling elites in some Western countries are turning freedom, democracy, human rights and opportunities into window dressing, and are effectively ignoring the public opinion.” The speaker of the Russian parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin, has suggested that Western European states are “turning into totalitarian regimes led by unpopular politicians and parties,” with their rivals, who are supported by the public, being put on trial and banned.
The designation of Germany’s AfD party as an extremist organization, France’s ban on Marine Le Pen running for public office, and the disqualification of Calin Georgescu from the Romanian presidential election last year were highlighted as examples of such actions, according to Volodin.