Residents in Closest Allies Have Doubts About U.S. Democracy – By Horus Alas (US News) / April 19 2021
Residents in European nations expressed low confidence in the U.S. as a good example of a functioning democracy in the 2021 Best Countries survey.
Residents in countries that are longtime members of perhaps the most important military alliance for the United States are among the most skeptical about the health of American democracy, according to a newly released U.S. News global survey.
As part of the 2021 Best Countries report released this month, more than 17,000 people in 36 countries were asked whether they agreed with the statement, “The United States is a good role model in a functioning democracy.” Just under 22% of Norwegians agreed with the statement, the lowest level of agreement in countries that joined NATO before the end of the Cold War.
Residents in other longtime NATO member countries also registered low levels of agreement about the U.S. being a role model for a healthy democracy: 32% in Canada, just under 36% in Germany, and about 38% in France and the United Kingdom. Elsewhere across Europe, Italians had the greatest percentage of respondents expressing confidence in the U.S. democratic model, at 48.5%, followed by Spain with 45.7%.
