American satisfaction with democracy at record low: Gallup

Recent surveys show that Americans are increasingly less optimistic about how democracy is working in the United States.

In a Gallup poll, Friday release, found that only 28 percent of U.S. adults are satisfied with democracy, a record low. This number is down from the previous record of 35 percent, measured immediately after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

By political party, Democrats were more likely than Republicans to say they were satisfied, at 38% and 17%, respectively. According to the poll, independents fall between the two with a satisfaction rating of 27%.

However, since this question was asked in 2021, satisfaction levels for all three groups have declined. After the riot, 47% of Democrats, 36% of independents, and 47% of Republicans said they were satisfied with U.S. democracy, according to Gallup.

The analytics firm also found that the gap in satisfaction became more pronounced when education level was taken into account.

According to the poll, Democrats with a graduate degree are more likely to say they are satisfied with U.S. democracy, at 38%.

About 30 percent of adults who attended college but not graduate school are satisfied, but only 21 percent of adults who did not attend college say the same. The latter showed the steepest decline in satisfaction since 2021, dropping by 15%.

Gallup has asked this question only nine times since 1984.

“The high point came on first reading, when 61% of Americans were satisfied with the way our democracy works, nearly as high as 60% in 1991,” the study states. “But in 1992, the year of the angry electorate, Americans' satisfaction levels showed signs of deteriorating.”

In the most recent survey, the pollster noted it was conducted in a year when a Democrat was president. In the 1998 survey, only Republicans were more satisfied. Gallup noted that this was done after the Republican-led House of Representatives impeached former President Clinton.

Friday's poll results were released as U.S. voters prepare to choose the next president in November. The Iowa caucuses, the start of primary voting season, begin in less than two weeks on January 15th.

The Gallup poll was conducted from Dec. 1 to Dec. 20 among a sample of 1,013 adults in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points with a 95% confidence level.