Is America still a democracy? A plurality of Americans say “no.”
The national installment of the Pell Center’s Voices of Value survey found nearly 2 in 3 Democrats think the U.S. is now a dictatorship, a position held by only 1 in 20 Republicans
A plurality of Americans now say the U.S. is not a democracy, with independent and self-identified progressive voters the most skeptical: 61 percent of Democrats and nearly half of Independents say it is now a dictatorship, the latest poll from Salve Regina University’s Pell Center found.
Republicans have a less pessimistic view, with 51 percent saying we live in a democracy, and only 5 percent that we’re living in a dictatorship. For self-identified MAGA voters – President Trump’s most loyal supporters – those figures were similar: 52 and 3 percent.
Most Americans, no matter political identification, are concerned about democratic erosion and institutional decline, however. A majority of Democrats (95%) and Independents (79%) believe the United States is in a constitutional crisis and nearly half (48%) of Republicans agree.
The perception of constitutional crisis coincides with declining confidence in government institutions. Two-thirds (60%) of respondents do not believe the United States has a strong system of checks and balances. Democrats (77%) and Independents (65%) are again the most likely to believe this, but 42% of Republicans agree as well. Among the right, 39% of MAGA members and 44% of Conservatives concur the system is failing.
But Americans are evaluating the democratic system through different lenses, and those differences extend to how they identify the country's greatest threats. Asked to pick their top three threats, 67% of Democrats included said “Donald Trump,” as did 41% of Independents. Republicans’ most cited threats were “disinformation and fake news” (cited by 56% of respondents), “election fraud” and “politically motivated violence” (both at 48%). Independents’ top answer was “money in politics.”
Trump was the most cited threat by both Black and Hispanic voters, with 56 and 45 percent of respondents, respectfully, choosing him. He was also seen as the greatest threat by women (44%), college educated (41%) and those 65 and older (40%).
“Americans seem to agree that something is fundamentally wrong with our political system, but they don't agree on what that problem is. Seventy-three percent believe we're facing a constitutional crisis, yet Democrats, Republicans and Independents have very different ideas about what's driving that crisis” said Katie Sonder, Associate Director and Fellow of the Pell Center. “That disconnect may be one of the most consequential findings in the survey.”
This survey was the first national iteration of the Voices of Value project from of the Pell Center at Salve Regina University. It was fielded by Embold Research between May 4-12, 2026. It gathered responses from 2,034 registered voters in the United States, with a modeled margin of error of 2.2 percent. Established in 2023, Voices of Value is a political polling initiative designed to understand voter preferences, track perceptions of the health of U.S. democracy, and unpack the nuances of U.S. political polarization.