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A new poll finds a majority of Pennsylvanians believe democracy is not working but remain committed to the principles that guide American government.
The latest Franklin & Marshall College Poll released today shows that only 35% of registered voters are satisfied with the way democracy is working in the country.
Frustration appears particularly strong among Democrats, with 86% saying they are dissatisfied with the way democracy is currently working in America. The majority of independent voters, 68%, are also unhappy with the system.
Most Republicans believe things are going well, with 62% saying they are satisfied.
Berwood Yost, director of the Center for Opinion Research, said the partisan divide on this issue isn’t exactly surprising.
“It’s clear to me that there are certain things that are largely filtered through a partisan lens and this is one of those issues,” he said. “So if your team is in power in Washington you probably feel better about our democratic institutions.”
Yost said evidence of this is found when looking at the responses the last time this question was asked in April 2024. In that poll, 58% of Democrats were satisfied with democracy while 70% of Republicans and 64% of independents were dissatisfied.
“The one group that is continually dissatisfied with the way democracy works is independents because they are always out of power,” he said. “But a lot of people are dissatisfied with democracy no matter which party is in charge, and I think that’s why we have seen the number of independent voters double over the past decade.”
Voters reflect on democratic principles
Despite the pessimism about the way democracy is functioning, the poll found most Pennsylvania voters are committed to specific democratic principles.
The survey found that 92% of respondents believe citizens should be allowed to say whatever they think even if their views are unpopular, 91% believe all citizens deserve an equal say in how our government runs and 97% believe in the presumption of innocence in civil and criminal trials.
But there were some issues where there was less agreement.
The poll found 75% of respondents disagree that leaders sometimes need to break the rules to get things done and 56% believe there should be no barriers to voting.
“The reason we asked about commitment to democratic principles shows that there is common ground,” he said. “And that is the starting point for conversation in this highly politicized environment that we are living in.”
Yost said the consensus on these principles demonstrates that there are many fundamental beliefs that most people — regardless of political affiliation — can agree on.
Respondents evaluate constitutional system
The poll asked respondents to weigh in on an integral part of the democratic system, in which the three branches of government are designed to check and balance each other to prevent any one branch from gaining too much power.
Nearly 50% of those surveyed said they believe President Donald Trump has overstepped the constitutional limits of the presidency, with 15% saying he has pushed the boundaries and 34% saying he has stayed within the limits.
Three in five registered voters believe Congress and the courts have ceded too much of their authority to the presidency, though Yost said partisanship is helping to drive these perceptions.
About 1 in 10 Democrats say Congress has given up too much power to the president while 23% of Republicans believe that is the case. Nearly 84% of Democrats believe the courts have given up too much power and only 25% of Republicans feel the same.
“You can see how the partisan perspective shifts the assessment of whether the government is functioning properly,” Yost said.
Other key findings
• 46% of registered voters believe the state is on the wrong track than believe it is headed in the right direction. The last time a majority of registered voters believed the state was headed in the right direction was January 2020.
• 36% of respondents say they are worse off financially than a year ago — the lowest point since April 2022.
• The concerns registered voters have about the direction of the state and their own personal finances have not yet harmed Gov. Josh Shapiro’s approval ratings. More voters, 51%, believe he is doing an excellent or good job than believe he is doing a fair or poor job.
How the poll was conducted
Included in the latest Franklin & Marshall College poll is a detailed explanation of how the survey was conducted:
The survey findings presented in this release are based on the results of interviews conducted Sept. 24 through Oct. 5. The interviews were conducted at the Center for Opinion Research at Franklin & Marshall College.
The poll was designed and administered by the staff of the Center for Opinion Research. The data included in this release represent the responses of 929 registered Pennsylvania voters, including 399 Democrats, 390 Republicans and 140 independents.
The sample of registered voters was obtained from Aristotle. All sampled respondents were notified by mail about the survey. Interviews were completed over the phone and online depending on each respondent’s preference.
Survey results were weighted (age, gender, education, geography and party registration) using an algorithm to reflect the known distribution of those characteristics among state voters. Estimates for age, geography and party registration are based on active voters within the Pennsylvania Department of State’s voter registration data.
The sample error for this survey is 4 percentage points when the design effects from weighting are considered.