After numerous legal challenges, the supreme court upheld the travel ban. Many were shocked to discover that a US president could issue diktats and fatwas like the worst kind of unelected despot or ayatollah.
American democracy is in crisis, and not just because of Trump
But the use of such orders, avoiding public scrutiny, is long-established. In exercising this arbitrary power, Trump is following precedent , however undemocratic. This may be one reason why Americans, according to polling going back decades, exhibit a consistently low opinion of Congress.
But there are many others. The dominant two-party system, virulent partisanship and out-of-touch politicians are blamed for chronic failures of governance. The advantages conferred by incumbency are overwhelming; most members are repeatedly re-elected, reducing democratic choice.
In terms of the presidency — the second constitutional pillar — systemic problems produce even greater anomalies. Trump was the fifth president to win office despite losing the popular vote , thanks to the archaic, unaccountably unreformed electoral college process. Members of Congress are widely viewed as overly beholden to corporations, wealthy donors and special interests. In other words, they are seen as corrupt.
The sums involved in greasing the wheels of US democracy are indeed eye-watering. The need for such huge war chests effectively excludes many would-be candidates from the democratic process and places others in hock to their financial backers.
Changing public perception of democracy
Again, worries over excessive, non-transparent or illegal campaign financing long precede Trump. Despite many reform efforts, a growing proportion of funding comes from anonymous sources. Just 4 percent think the government listens to their opinion. I am part of a team of scholars from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County that studies American popular support for democracy over time. Historic surveys reveal a deep, long-lasting and bipartisan dissatisfaction with the U. Every two years between and , the survey has asked Americans a variety of questions about their experience with American democracy.
To understand how satisfaction with the U. The results varied widely over time, rising and dropping as the public reacted to political scandals, national tragedies and presidential malfeasance. In the s, after the U. In , just 28 percent of people felt they had no say in government. In , only a quarter of Americans saw public corruption as a major problem. These numbers reflect a remarkable faith in U.
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Despite the gains of the civil rights movement and the feminist movement that would mark the next decade, the s were so turbulent that they gave rise to an era of political alienation. Displeasure with American democracy continued to rise for the next three decades, reaching an all-time high under President Bill Clinton.
Americans distrusted US democracy long before Trump's Russia problem
His administration started with a flurry of scandals. The American public was appalled. In , 50 percent of Democrats and 51 percent of Republicans thought that government officials were mostly corrupt. In , only 26 percent of Americans said they had no voice in government. Views of American involvement in global solutions differ greatly depending on expressed confidence in President Trump.
In 17 of the 25 countries surveyed, people who do not trust Trump to do the right thing in world affairs are significantly more likely than those who have confidence in him to say that the U. The magnitude of the difference is striking in some countries: In fact, majorities across Europe, and in neighboring Canada and Mexico, say that the U.
Three-fourths of South Koreans say Washington does not consider their interests. Only in Israel, the Philippines, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa do half or more say that the American government takes into account their interests a great deal or fair amount when making foreign policy decisions. Since the question was last asked in , 14 of the countries surveyed have seen significant declines in the share of people who say the U.
The biggest decline has been in Germany, where half in said the U. In three countries surveyed in both and , more people today think the U. Greece, Tunisia and Israel. Among these, Israel saw the biggest increase, perhaps due to recent U.
Trump’s International Ratings Remain Low, Especially Among Key Allies
Looking across 14 countries surveyed in , , and , opinions on whether the U. Attitudes shifted at the beginning of the Obama administration in Yet, overall, a majority across the countries polled in both years still felt the U. By , little had changed. Although many believe that the U. Pluralities in roughly half of the 25 nations surveyed say relations with the U. Canadians hold generally negative views of their relationship with their southern neighbor.
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Germans have the most negative view of their relationship with the U. Eight-in-ten say it has deteriorated since In comparison, at least four-in-ten in every other European nation say their interactions with the U. A majority of Russians also see their relationship with the U.
1. America’s international image continues to suffer
On the opposite side of the spectrum, Israel has by far the most positive view of U. Publics in sub-Saharan Africa also tend to see their relationship with the U. Views in Latin America are more mixed. About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world.
It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts.