The health of American democracy, as measured by those who study it most closely, has settled into a diminished state – stabilizing after a sharp decline last year, but still well below the levels recorded at any point before the start of Donald Trump’s second term, according to a new survey released on Tuesday.
The findings, by the nonpartisan democracy-tracking project Bright Line Watch, which surveys hundreds of US scholars at American colleges and universities, suggest that the erosion of norms detected after Trump’s return to the White House last year has hardened into a new baseline. The public also holds a dim view of American democracy, the most recent survey found, but are sharply divided along partisan lines over how well the system is functioning.
I suppose that’s why they’re asking you to take the results based on the research data rather than faith. It’s important not to confuse pessimism with objectivity.
Things can look stabilized for the moment and the results can certainly back that up, but I have no faith that they’re not going to decline further and numbers can’t tell you that they won’t.