Half of Western voters say democracy is broken, Ipsos poll finds

Nearly half of voters across the Western world believe their democratic systems are malfunctioning, according to a major Ipsos survey conducted across nine countries in September. The poll of almost 9,800 people in seven EU member states plus the United Kingdom and United States found an average dissatisfaction rate of 45 percent with the way democracy is working. Only in Sweden did a majority say democratic politics functions well.

Representation gap yawns across capitals

The most striking finding cuts across borders: in none of the nine countries surveyed did a majority of voters believe their national government represents their views effectively. Croatia and the United Kingdom share the lowest confidence rating, with just 23 percent of respondents in each country saying their government represents them well. The figure reflects a structural disconnect between electorates and executives that has widened since the financial crisis and accelerated during the pandemic.

In France and the Netherlands, satisfaction has fallen sharply over the past year. France has endured repeated government collapses amid a protracted budget crisis, while the Dutch coalition fragmented earlier in 2025, triggering an October election. Gideon Skinner, senior director of UK politics at Ipsos, told POLITICO that voters feel "unrepresented particularly by their national governments" and identified "particular concerns around the impact of fake news, disinformation, lack of accountability for politicians, and extremism."

Five-year outlook darkens in southern Europe

Anxiety about the future exceeds frustration with the present. Eighty-six percent of French respondents and 80 percent of Spanish respondents said they are worried about what the next five years hold for their democratic systems. Italy and the Netherlands also registered concern above 70 percent. The United States, where 61 percent believe democracy has worsened since 2020, sits in the middle of the pack for forward-looking fear but leads on retrospective pessimism.

Poland stands alone as the only country where more voters say democracy has improved than worsened over the past five years. The Ipsos fieldwork followed a high-turnout presidential election that produced a peaceful transfer of power, a contrast to the institutional clashes of the previous Law and Justice government. Whether the improvement sentiment survives the current coalition's struggles with judicial reform remains an open question.

Extremes agree: the system is broken

Voters identifying with the political extremes, both far left and far right, were the most likely to declare democracy a failure. This convergence suggests the dissatisfaction is not purely ideological but structural: a belief that the machinery of representation, accountability and truth-telling has seized up. The finding complicates the conventional narrative that democratic backsliding is driven solely by the populist right.

In Croatia, the alienation runs deepest. Fifty-one percent of respondents said preserving democracy is only worthwhile if it delivers a good quality of life, a transactional view that treats democratic rights as conditional on economic performance. That figure should alarm policymakers in Zagreb and Brussels alike; it implies a constituency for authoritarian shortcuts if living standards stagnate.

Disinformation tops the threat list

Asked to name the biggest risks to democracy, respondents across the nine countries converged on four: disinformation, corruption, lack of accountability for politicians, and the rise of extremist politics. The ranking is consistent with a recent G20-commissioned report that linked wealth inequality to extremist support and the erosion of public debate. The Ipsos data suggests voters see these forces as interlocking rather than separate.

European authorities have identified Russian disinformation and meddling in elections from Romania to Germany over the past year. The European Commission unveiled its democracy defence package this month, but critics argue its centrepiece, a mechanism to counter foreign interference, is fatally weakened by making participation voluntary across the 27 member states. The Commission's own press service describes the package as "a new push to protect and promote democracy," yet the voluntary clause was inserted at the insistence of several capitals wary of Brussels overreach.

Voters want enforcement, not exhortation

Despite the gloom, the poll finds robust support for democratic ideals, and for concrete measures to defend them. Respondents backed laws and enforcement against corruption, protection for judicial independence, better civic education in schools, and regulation of fake news and hate speech on social media. The appetite for regulation contradicts the libertarian framing often deployed by tech platforms and some political parties.

The demand for court independence resonates particularly in Poland and Hungary, where judicial capture has been a flashpoint with EU institutions. It also echoes in the United States, where Supreme Court legitimacy has plummeted in parallel polling. The cross-border symmetry suggests a shared diagnosis: that the referee has been captured by the players.

The Swedish exception

Sweden's outlier status, the only country where a majority says democracy works well, deserves scrutiny. The country has not been immune to gang violence, inflation or the rise of the Sweden Democrats. But its consensus-driven political culture, strong local government and high trust in institutions may provide a buffer. Whether that buffer holds as the Sweden Democrats edge toward government participation will be a test case for the rest of Europe.