Democracies are losing the hearts and minds of their citizens, world’s largest study on trust in government finds

– Read the full report here –

The largest single global study measuring citizens’ trust in government indicates democracies are facing a severe crisis of faith in the eyes of the public. The Democracy Perception Index 2018 (DPI) finds that a majority of people living in democracies are disillusioned with the idea that their government is formed “by the people” and works “for the people.”

The DPI, conducted by Dalia Research in collaboration with the Alliance of Democracies and Rasmussen Global, is based on nationally representative interviews with over 125,000 respondents in 50 countries worldwide. This represents over 75% of the world’s population and 75% of the world’s GDP.

DPI survey data ranks countries on how effectively they are perceived to be delivering core democratic benefits in the eyes of their citizens, including:

Perception of Political Voice : Do citizens feel their voice matters in politics? Perception of Public Interest : Do citizens feel their government acts in their interest?

Across the globe, governments are failing to convince citizens their voice matters and that institutions are acting in their best interest. More troubling, according to survey data, is the finding that public disillusionment is greater in democracies than in non-democracies. An astonishing 64% of citizens living in democracies responded their government “rarely” or “never” acts in the interest of the public. For example, the United States and the United Kingdom, long seen as leaders of the free world show glaring deficiencies. While not faring as poorly as other democracies, nearly two thirds or more of their citizens believe their governments are not acting in their interests.

Researchers noted that while citizens in democratic societies might be inherently more critical of their government than those living in non-democratic societies, perception is often as important as reality, and therefore the implications of the findings remain relevant and insightful.