The Economist downgraded U.S. democracy in 2017, citing further erosion of trust in government and elected officials.
Nearly 50 percent of the world’s nations are considered democracies, according to the 2016 Democracy Index. The number of “full democracies” declined from 20 in 2015 to 19 in 2016 — the U.S. was the one knocked off the list.
The U.S. democratic system got downgraded to a “flawed democracy” because Americans reportedly have less trust in government, and, in particular, their elected officials. The magazine calls the current era the “democratic recession,” citing twice as many countries receiving a decline in their total score last year.
The Economist report is titled, “Revenge of the “deplorables” and is a direct reference to what former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called President Donald Trump supporters on the campaign trail.
The magazine also ran the headline on Inauguration Day 2017, “American Carnage: Donald Trump Becomes America’s 45th President.”
There may be, however, some validity to why the magazine claims American democracy could be “flawed.” A recent public poll found that some 75 percent of Americans believe that the majority of elected officials “don’t care what people like me think,” The Daily Signal reports.
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