Canadians are getting worried about US democracy

On January 15th, a survey publushed by the Angus Reid Institute showed that most Canadians thought democracy in the United States would not be able to survive a second term with former president Donald Trump at the helm. But that wasn't the only discovery the polling uncovered.

Sixty-four percent of the 1,510 Canadians polled agreed with the statement that "U.S. democracy cannot survive another four years of Donald Trump" while only twenty-eight percent disagreed with the statement according to a news release by Angus Reid.

Fifteen-three percent of people thought Joe Biden would be a better choice for Canada's economy whereas only eighteen percent thought Trump would be the candidate that would prove more fruitful for the economic woes Canada is currently facing.

Overall, forty-nine percent said that the United States was on its way toward becoming an authoritarian state and seventy-one percent said that the concept of the rule of law applying to everyone in America was weakening.

"What we're seeing is people quite alarmed about the prospect of a return of Donald Trump," said Shachi Kurl, president of the Angus Reid Institute told Reuters' Steve Scherer. However, it's not just Canadians that are worried about democracy in the US. Americans are just as concerned.

In December 2023, sixty-two percent of adults surveyed by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research said that US democracy could be at risk depending on who wins the 2024 Presidential Election. But the funny thing was those on both sides of the aisle were concerned.

Seventy-two percent of Democrats and fifty-five percent of Republicans reported that they were worried about America's democracy, but PBS News Hour noted that each political group was worried for different reasons.

“I think from the side of the left, it’s pretty obvious that they’re concerned about electing a president who is avowedly authoritarian," explained University of Chicago political science professor Michael Albertus.

“From the right, the Republicans think about government overreach, big government, threats to freedom, and mandates to act in a certain way or adopt certain policies,” Albertus added. Other polling data also discovered similar worries in August 2023.

The vast majority of American voters were worried about their democracy in August according to a poll from Morning Consult/ Bipartisan Policy Center that was published by The Hill. 

Eighty-two percent of poll respondents noted they were worried about democracy in the United States with forty percent saying they were “very worried” according to The Hill. 

This concern was present in both Republican and Democratic respondents with the vast majority of voters in both pirates (84%) noting they worried about democracy in the U.S. 

Interestingly, even though voters from the major parties were worried about democracy they didn’t show confidence in the other party to engage in passing bipartisan solutions. 

Fifty-nine percent of voters said they had no confidence in the other party with sixty-two percent of Republican voters saying so compared to just fifty percent of Democrats. 

The Hill noted that the polling results came just as the federal government was looking at a possible shutdown if lawmakers can’t agree on a budget when they return from recess. 

“Lawmakers will need to pass a federal budget by Sept. 30. If lawmakers cannot agree to pass 11 out of 12 spending bills, the government will shut down,” The Hill reported. 

The polling published by The Hill in August 2023 also found that while most voters did not believe that the parties could work together, they still believed it was important for them to do so on key issues. 

Seventy-six percent of respondents noted it was “very important” that the parties worked together to pass bipartisan legislation on the economy and eighty-four percent of people noted that inflation was their biggest concern. 

Just under 2000 registered voters were polled for The Morning Consult/Bipartisan Policy Center survey and it was conducted between August 21st and August 24th. 

Again, this wasn’t the first time pollsters discovered that American voters were worried about their democracy. In 2022, an NPR/ Ipsos poll found that sixty-four percent of voters agreed that American democracy was in crisis just one year after the January 6th Capitol attacks.