For better or worse, the United States has never been a democratic nation. It is supposed to be a republic, one in which the people elect those who represent them and make the laws that govern them. However, it's not even a republic, given that every state, regardless of population, gets two senators, and the president is chosen by electors, not citizens. Meanwhile, there is gerrymandering, lobbying, voter suppression, corruption, and GOP state governments that have promised never to certify a Democratic win again. At best, it's a semi-representative republic controlled by a minority party.
Nevertheless, this new Yahoo News/YouGov poll is depressing. Over half of Republicans and Democrats now believe it is "likely" that America will "cease to be a democracy in the future."
Even more depressing: "a large number of Americans seem indifferent to the high-profile hearings by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol — an effort to get to the bottom of one of the most dramatic assaults on the democratic process in U.S. history."
[F]ewer than 1 in 4 (24%) say they watched last Thursday's initial primetime broadcast live. Only slightly more (27%) say they caught news coverage later. Nearly half (49%) say they did not follow the hearings at all.
…
This explains why 43% of Republicans continue to say that "left-wing protesters trying to make Trump look bad" deserve "the most blame" for Jan. 6, versus just 7% who blame Trump himself, 10% for "Trump supporters who gathered at the Capitol" and 12% for "right-wing groups like the Proud Boys" — even though there is zero evidence that liberals were involved.
Republicans and Democrats are in agreement that the country is so divided that civil war is likely:
A majority of Republicans (52%) also say it's likely that "there will be a civil war in the United States in [their] lifetime"; half of independents (50%) and a plurality of Democrats (46%) agree. In each group, fewer than 4 in 10 say another civil war is unlikely.
It's bleak, but nothing about the survey should be a surprise. We had a president who never respected the rule of law, was impeached twice, incited violence, lied like no other president, urged states to overturn the election, violated the emoluments clause of the Constitution, was credibly accused of sexual assault by several women, and who in general behaved like an authoritarian despot. The Republican Party was happy to go along with it, and for the most part, continues to do so.
