Was die Amerikaner über Demokratie sagen, stimmt nicht mit dem überein, was sie wählen. Amerikaner, die sich nachdrücklich für die Demokratie einsetzten, waren oft bereit, diese aufzugeben, wenn sie mit wirtschaftlichen Nachteilen konfrontiert wurden, und wurden toleranter gegenüber voreingenommenen Medien, schwächeren Kontrollen von Führungskräften und ungleicher Behandlung durch das Gesetz.
https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2026/01/financial-interests-trump-democracy
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Pocketbook realities reshape Americans’ commitment to democratic ideals
Support for democratic principles is more conditional than traditional surveys suggest, study finds
Money talks, and new research from Northwestern University suggests it often speaks louder than an American voter’s commitment to democratic norms.
Study used an advanced behavioral experiment involving more than 600 U.S. residents to examine how voters trade democratic principles against economic security. They found that support for democratic principles is far more conditional than traditional surveys suggest and declines substantially when economic hardship is taken into account.
Key findings
1. Economic insecurity undermines democratic support.
Across the sample, respondents strongly preferred democratic norms when personal economic conditions were good. Under economic insecurity, support for rule of law, political equality and free expression declined markedly across all three dimensions, with economic conditions exerting a larger influence than ideology.
2. **What Americans say about democracy doesn’t match what they choose.**
**Respondents who professed strong support for democracy were often willing to abandon those principles when faced with economic disadvantages.**
3. Economic well-being is the strongest driver of democratic trade-offs.
When respondents were financially secure, support for liberal democratic principles increased. **When respondents were economically disadvantaged, they became more tolerant of illiberal conditions, including biased media, weakened checks on leaders and unequal treatment under the law.**
4. Age and education, not ideology, predict democratic resilience.
The study found that age and education were far stronger predictors of commitment to democratic norms than political ideology. Ideology played a surprisingly minor role in determining willingness to sacrifice democratic principles — suggesting that these trade-offs are not confined to one political party.
For those interested, here’s the link to the peer reviewed journal article:
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/benefit-seekers-or-principle-holders-experimental-evidence-on-americans-democratic-tradeoffs/55DDAE8980D79BACA1612E1D674109E4
The so called patriots are never really that patriotic.
Scoundrels wrapping themselves in flags, for instance. We’ve got 70 or so million of them.
This feels less like hypocrisy and more like motivated reasoning under economic pressure.
Is it at wonder then that billionaires, corporations, and wannabe strong men like pushing “everything is awful all the time” narratives? “What have you got to lose” was only a winning slogan because enough people think they’re at rock bottom and nothing could possibly get worse
I have no idea why people think “actually everything *is* awful” is a good rhetorical strategy that will lead to less extremism
Well, it’s not that simple. What we vote for is promises, which is not what we usually get. We also vote to protect our best interests (usually) but most people don’t understand what their best interests are because so many are so selfish they are more worried about judging and tormenting people they disagree with than doing the right thing.
I call these people 2A supporters unless it’s someone else that get shot in the face.
The most patriotic and religious people you know are truly the least patriotic and religious people you know.
It’s stupid because highly democratic countries tend to be more prosperous and stable. Democracy forces politicians to govern responsibly. If the citizens abandon democratic norms during times of hardship, they will actually make things worse. It’s like they don’t pay attentikn to how things go in existing autocracies.
I know economic inequality has gotten bad but Americans act like such goddamn babies. Try burning your money for heat and being unable to afford a loaf of bread like the Weimar Germans.
An interesting comparison would with Europe in the late 1920s and all of the 1930s.
The worse things are for someone within a system, the more they are going to accept challenges to that system. In America, we continually vote in two parties who do very little to address the needs of the working class in the country. When one’s choice to engage in the system doesn’t lead to any improvements in outcome no matter who wins, ultimately people are going to abandon the system.
In that sense, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that belief in democracy is conditional, and that those who have benefited under the system and have security under it are more likely to support it.
America feels too convoluted to fix… have we tried turning it off and turning it back on?
Taking a stand is super scary! But maybe a protest or two…
This is good data to back up something I think we all intuitively know. Its easy to be charitable when you are prosperous but harder to be when not. The same concept applies across all spectrums of life, age and education were the two largest predictors indicating this doesn’t fall along party lines.
„An abused population chooses self survival due to tyrannical abusers forcing people to choose their own self survival“
more at 11?
Same for the Europeans
The grabbing hands grab all the can, all for themselves. After all it’s a competitive world.
„Americans who professed strong support for democracy were often willing to abandon this when faced with economic disadvantages“
Could it be that biased media makes it seem that way?
It’s like the song goes, “maybe we’d be better off if we brought down Gorbachev”
That song might have been about the USSR, but it reflects the reality that when people are unsatisfied with their condition, they will look to change government to favor themselves.
In 2024 77 million Americans said they cared more about being racist and homophobic than living in a functional democracy.
It also needs to be said that at least one study showed that racial prejudice was a better predictor of support for Trump than even being Republican
Voters don’t want a leader who is democratic
They want a dictator who agrees with them
Americans don’t live in a democracy. They live in a republic. This mistake ALONE invalidates your argument.