Are Americans satisfied with the way democracy is working? What a new poll found

Brendan Rascius, The Bradenton Herald on Jan 22, 2025

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The wheels of democracy are turning — and most Americans are not impressed, according to new polling.

In the latest Gallup poll, released shortly after President Donald Trump’s inauguration, 61% of respondents said they were dissatisfied with the way democracy functions in the U.S.

In contrast, only about one-third of respondents, 34%, said they were satisfied with the current system.

Conducted between Dec. 2 to 18, the poll sampled 1,003 U.S. adults and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

“Satisfaction with democracy is much lower today than it was in the 1980s and 1990s, when Americans were generally more upbeat about national conditions, more trusting in government and more confident in public institutions,” according to Gallup.

In 1984, the first year Gallup asked this question, 61% of respondents said they were content with the way U.S. democracy works. Then, in 1998, that figure fell to 52%.

Gallup didn’t pose this question between 1999 and 2020, but other organizations did — filling in the gaps and indicating satisfaction with the system continued to decline.

For example, CNN surveys from 2010 and 2016 found 40% of respondents were happy with the way U.S. democracy was working.

Gallup then asked this question again in 2021 and 2023, finding 35% and 28% of respondents — respectively — were content with the functioning of American democracy.

So, while the 2024 satisfaction rate of 34% hovers near record lows, it does mark a six-point increase from 2023.

The slight uptick is largely due to a shift in opinion among Republicans — many of whom may have become content with the system’s functioning after Trump’s electoral victory. In fact, GOP satisfaction nearly doubled from 17% in 2023 to 33% in 2024.

This trend is not unusual, though. “Historically, supporters of the president’s party have expressed more satisfaction with U.S. democracy than those who identify with the opposing party,” according to Gallup.

Similarly, independents grew more content, with 34% expressing satisfaction in 2024, compared to 27% in 2023. In contrast, satisfaction among Democrats fell slightly from 2023 — from 38% to 35%.

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