One of the last polls before the Nov. 5 presidential election found that nearly half of U.S. voters believe the government is not doing a good job of representing the public, and half believe that self-governance is working poorly. Three-quarters believe democracy is under threat.
The survey, released Sunday by The New York Times in collaboration with Siena College, outlined a deeply divided political landscape. Both sides of the divide expressed distrust of the other and general doubts about America’s brand of democracy.
However, they are held together by an overall understanding. A majority said the country was plagued by corruption, and 62% said the government primarily worked to serve itself and elites rather than broader collective interests.
In the survey, 58% of voters said the country’s financial and political systems needed major changes or an overhaul.
Another national poll released the day before found Kamala Harris deadlocked with Donald Trump as he seeks a return to the White House, with the vice president trailing by 3 compared to a similar poll in early October. Points dropped.
The poll raised concerns among some people that Democratic candidates could lose the popular vote, a reversal from the past four elections. Both candidates have a national approval rating of 48%, down from 49% for Harris and up from 46% for Trump a few weeks ago.
A silver lining from the latest poll surveying confidence in US democracy: Despite President Trump’s sustained efforts to question the integrity of the vote in this race, both major parties and independents Almost 80% of voters said they believed next week’s results were accurate and the match he lost to Joe Biden in 2020.
This is an improvement from two years ago, when only about 70% said they were confident in their results.
But the survey results also show a deep distrust of the information world. 21% said mainstream media is good for democracy, and 55% said mainstream media is bad. When it comes to social media, 21% of poll respondents said it was good for democracy, and 51% said it was bad.
The paper’s poll found that overall responsibility for the split depended on party affiliation.
Democrats have defined Trump as a central threat to democracy. Republicans viewed Harris, Biden and Democrats in general as bad for democracy, but also pointed to some concerns, including mail-in voting, electronic voting machines, immigration and the Justice Department.
The paper said that Democratic concerns about Trump do not explain why the Harris campaign’s initial uplifting tone has shifted to a sustained message that Trump’s victory represents a “dark slide into fascism.” He suggested.
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21% (down 9% from two years ago) say it is acceptable for the president to deviate from the rule of law to achieve his goals. Six in 10 people also said they were unsure whether they would accept the results of the Nov. 5 vote if Trump lost.
But the poll also found voters “do not necessarily believe” some of Trump’s most incendiary statements, but authoritarianism experts warn they should be taken seriously. I am doing it.
Fewer than half said they believed the president’s threat to deploy the National Guard to deal with what he called “the enemy from within.” But three-quarters said they were taking his threat to deport large numbers of illegal immigrants seriously.
Separately, a CNN poll released Monday found that 56% of registered voters said the U.S. Supreme Court and its conservative majority (including three justices appointed during the Trump era) It was found that respondents said they had some confidence or not at all in making the right decisions about the case. Related to the 2024 election.
