Election System & Voting Process

Amid growing discontent with the state of democracy globally, we asked over 30,000 people what changes would make their democracy work better.

Donald Trump’s likely clinching of the GOP nomination came 244 days before Election Day, a day short of John McCain in 2008.

A 24-country survey finds a median of 59% are dissatisfied with how their democracy is functioning, and 74% think elected officials don’t care what people like them think.

47% of Americans favor banning groups from collecting completed ballots to return to official voting centers, while 50% oppose this. The public is also divided over removing people from voter registration lists if they have not voted recently or confirmed their registration, with slightly more opposing this (55%) than supporting it (44%).

Test your civics knowledge by taking our short 6-question quiz.

72% of U.S. adults say that there should be limits on the amount of money individuals and organizations can spend on political campaigns.

26% of adults say having more political parties would make it easier to solve problems, while nearly as many (24%) say it would not.

65% of U.S. adults say the way the president is elected should be changed so that the winner of the popular vote nationwide wins the presidency.

Americans’ views of politics and elected officials are unrelentingly negative, with little hope of improvement on the horizon. 65% of Americans say they always or often feel exhausted when thinking about politics. By contrast, just 10% say they always or often feel hopeful about politics.

68% of U.S. adults who voted in the 2020 presidential election turned out to vote in the 2022 midterms. Former President Donald Trump’s voters turned out at a higher rate in 2022 (71%) than did President Joe Biden’s voters (67%).