A poll released March 27 by Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut, finds that U.S. voters are split when it comes to their views of whether the country’s democracy form of government is working. The poll comes as rhetoric from Donald Trump and the right-wing of the Republican Party makes it clear that if Trump is returned to the White House he would move to end the democracy and institute a dictatorship.
A majority of voters surveyed by Quinnipiac, 68%, said they did not believe American democracy would end in their lifetimes. However, 49% said they believe democracy is not working in the U.S. while 46% said they believe it is working.
When the results are sorted by party affiliation, a dramatic difference of opinion emerges. Quinnipiac found that 66% of Democrats said they believed democracy is working while 31% said they believe it isn’t. On the Republican side, 62% said they believe democracy is not working while 33% believe it is working. People who describe themselves as independents were less dramatically divided with 45% saying they think democracy it is working and 49% saying they think it is not working.
Quinnipiac looked at the 2024 presidential election and found that if the election were held now President Joe Biden would receive 48% support from voters and Donald Trump would receive 45% support. Those results are within the margin of error of the poll.
In a five candidate race that includes independent Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Green Party candidate Jill Stein, and independent candidate Cornel West, Trump receives 39%, Biden receives 38%, Kennedy receives 13%, Stein receives 4% and West receives 3%.
Quinnipiac also asked voters about issues that have attracted attention recently. Regarding legislation to force the Chinese company that owns TikTok to sell to a buyer from the U.S. or a U.S. ally, 51% expressed support for such a requirement while 40% opposed the idea.
When asked whether its should be possible to charge a former president with having committed a federal crime while in office, 70% said it should be allowed while 24% expressed opposition.
When asked to pick the most urgent issue facing the U.S. today, 26% said immigration, 20% said the economy and 18% said preserving democracy.
The Quinnipiac Poll is conducted by telephone with about 200 interviewers asking the questions after manually dialing phone numbers that have been selected to reach a representative sample of registered voters.
