Report · Politics
Most want a democracy that balances majority rule with compromise
Reading
About a third of Americans (32%) think democracy means the majority should compromise with the minority about half of the time, according to a September 2023 Verasight survey.
More Americans lean toward compromise than toward unchecked majority rule: 39% favor a democracy where the majority compromises more often than not, including 19% who say the majority should never overrule minority opinion and should always compromise. The remaining 29% tilt toward majority rule, including 10% who say democracy means the majority always gets what it wants, no matter what the minority wants.
Topline
Topline distribution
Most want a democracy that balances majority rule with compromise.
People have different ideas about how democracy should work. How would you place your preferences on this scale?
- 4 Democracy means that the majority should compromise about half of the time. 32.0%
- 1 Democracy means compromise: the majority should never overrule minority opinion, and should always compromise. 18.7%
- 5 13.1%
- 3 12.8%
- 7 Democracy means the majority always gets what it wants, no matter what the minority wants 9.8%
- 2 7.5%
- 6 6.0%
APSA Omnibus Survey #2023-071
View sourceMethodology
Full methodology- Mode
- Verasight panel recruited via random address-based sampling, random person-to-person text messaging, and dynamic online targeting
- Field dates
- 2023-09-07 → 2023-09-13
- Base (unweighted)
- 2,000
- Margin of error
- +/- 2.3%
- Module
- 2023 APSA Omnibus Survey #2023-071
Source
Citation
2023 APSA Omnibus Survey #2023-071, fielded September 7-13, 2023, N=2,000 United States adults, +/- 2.3%.