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The United States will blow out 247 birthday candles this year, but many Americans aren’t in a celebratory mood.
Polls show there is little excitement about the 2024 presidential front-runners and there is a lingering alarm about U.S. institutions.
In all, 7 out of 10 Americans agree with the statement that American democracy is “imperiled,” according to a new USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll ahead of Independence Day.
The fallout from the Jan. 6 insurrection coupled with concerns about the rise of artificial intelligence and other barriers to the ballot box has many Americans biting their nails and asking whether the state of democracy can be improved as the country hurtles into another presidential election that promises to be even more divisive.
What happens next will largely be decided by the results of the election and other down-ballot races. To get ready, more states are taking steps to expand the vote and protect poll workers in 2023 compared with states working to make it harder to vote, according to expert analysis. Legislators and other advocates say those shifts represent a vibrant and growing pro-democracy movement.
Why are Americans losing faith in democracy?
In the past two election cycles, the fundamentals of democracy have faced significant threats, fueled largely by persistent lies from former President Donald Trump and his allies about whether he truly lost the 2020 contest (he did, according to Republican and Democratic election leaders across the nation).
Those denials ignited a violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, but also fueled a number of states to pursue more restrictive voting laws in the name of election security. In the months that followed, hundreds of election deniers were inspired to seek public office, and although many failed to win they remain a part of the national conversation.
Pro-democracy advocates point to those losses in the 2022 midterm election as a sign of how seriously voters take the health of the nation’s democracy.
“In recent elections, the majority of the people have sent a clear message: they wholly reject anti-democratic election denialism and want their basic rights protected,” former Attorney General Eric Holder, who has spearheaded a Democratic-led initiative on redistricting, told USA TODAY.
“They want a truly representative democracy and the rights that should come with that.”
Voting rights depend largely on ‘where you live’
At least 13 states have enacted about 15 restrictive voting rights laws in total this year, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan policy group. Seven laws seek to curb access to mail voting, for instance, which was popular during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
After the 2020 elections, 14 states passed 22 restrictive laws in 2021.
“Where we’re heading in terms of our democracy and voting rights depends a lot on which state you’re in and increasingly, where you live rather than everybody in America having the same experience,” said Sean Morales-Doyle, director of the Brennan Center’s Voting Rights division.
At the same time, legislators in 15 states took steps this year toward expanding voting rights. Of those, 23 measures made ballot access safer and easier, such as automatic voter registration, restoring voting rights for people upon their release from prison and imposing criminal penalties for intimidating poll workers, who saw a rise in threats.
Minnesota, armed with a new Democratic “trifecta” in control of its state government, passed some of the most progressive voting laws in the country this year. It implemented automatic voter registration for residents once they turn 18, allowed pre-registration for 16- and 17-year-olds and created a permanent absentee voter list that sends a ballot to residents who sign up.
“The violent insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, really shocked the conscience of many voters,” Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman told USA TODAY. “What we found on the campaign trail, both in anecdotal stories from door knocking and from the data we collected from polling, was that voters were really concerned about our democracy in light of those incidents.”
Republicans and Democrats are worried about future of American democracy
The health of U.S. democracy is something Americans agree about across the board, according to the USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll. It shows 74% of Democrats agree that “democracy is imperiled.” About 75% of Republicans agree and 66% of independents.
“This question does not cut off on political party,” said David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center. “In fact, it’s a validation that all political factions, whether you’re in the left, right or in the middle, feel that democracy is imperiled, and that’s pretty powerful.”
Larry Skinner, 72, a retired financial analyst and longtime Republican supporter from Riverside, California, said he remembers when President Ronald Reagan “worked well” with Democratic Speaker Tip O’Neill in the 1980s to get legislation passed in Congress. These days, Skinner, who has been married for 54 years and has three adult children and nine grandchildren. said there is “no road to compromise” between the political parties.
Skinner would like to see less of politicians “from both parties making statements that clearly are not accurate. That makes so sense to me.”
Patrice Jackson, 48, a public school teacher for 18 years and GOP supporter from Chester, Pennsylvania, also said she wants less contentiousness in Washington.
“Can we please try to be more kind to one another, regardless of your party affiliation?” Jackson asks. “Can we reprioritize and focus on what the important issues are?”
First-term New Hampshire State Rep. Angie Brennan is a Democrat in a state that has a high concentration of registered independent voters. Strengthening the nation’s democracy heavily depends on voter participation by removing barriers to the ballot box and proposing measures such as no-excuse absentee voting to ensure their constitutional rights, Brennan said.
“We all have a responsibility to fight for the future of our democracy,” she said. “It’s going to take all of us coming together to increase access and opportunities to vote. The future of our democracy depends on hope, humanity, and hard work, and I’m not giving up on any of that.”
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