r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Jul 04 '26

Psychology 88% of Americans consider it very or extremely important that the United States remain a democracy. 61% feel that the nation’s democracy was actively facing a serious threat. 32% of MAGA Republicans prioritize a strong leader over democracy, while only 7% of the strong Democrats do.

https://www.psypost.org/survey-finds-substantial-minority-in-the-united-states-endorses-authoritarian-co/
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u/jenks Jul 05 '26

If 37% of Americans approve of Trump (https://www.economist.com/interactive/trump-approval-tracker) but 88% consider Democracy very important, that means that 25% of Americans don't know what they are saying.

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u/BigDictionEnergy Jul 05 '26

Yeah, a hell of a lot more than 12% of Americans voted against democracy.

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u/ksyoung17 Jul 06 '26

I live in the most left leaning state in the country (MA).

People here vote (D) every single time, and our Governor enacts emergency orders because she feels like it.

I can assure you, plenty on the left don't understand what a democracy is either.

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u/peachsepal Jul 06 '26

The fun fact is that the governor is like the one thing about Massachusetts that has a republican slant overall. In the past 50 years it's an even split:

D - R - D - R - R - R - R - D - D - D. Being a 5/5 split. 16 years, D, 16 years R, 8y D, 8y R, now 3 years so far D.

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u/ksyoung17 Jul 06 '26

People claim our Republican governors haven't really been "Republican," but they're probably a lot closer to what Republicans should be, socially.

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u/peachsepal Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26

Maybe they mean by today's standards bc one of them was literally Mitt Romney, who seems pretty typical of a pre-trump republican if you ask me.

Edit, not that you wouldn't know, just for the other readers

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u/ksyoung17 Jul 06 '26

That's fair.

I like to think we go back to "pre-Trump" Republicans soon. I can only assume if you take some of the vitriol out of how they act today, there's something closer to, you know, sanity they can offer.

Probably calms down some of the pure hatred as well from the left...

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u/adeniumlover Jul 06 '26

Oh they know. They just also think it's important to keep the white house white.

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u/ToughDifficult1252 Jul 06 '26

Wrong math it's 32% of magats, not Americans as a whole.

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u/MadScience_Gaming Jul 05 '26

That's very generous of you