Many Gen Z Americans are skeptical of democracy, More in Common study finds

When headlines like “Gen Z is embracing dictatorship” began making the rounds, political analyst Rabhya Mehrotra and her colleagues at More in Common set out to take a closer look at Gen Z’s relationship with democracy.

Members of Gen Z are generally born between 1997 and 2012. The Newsweek study behind that headline found 40% of Gen Z Americans agreed that “rule by a strong leader, where a strong leader can make decisions without interference from the legislature or from the courts" would be a good system of government for the U.S. It also found 51% were "willing to give up some democratic powers if it made government function more effectively.”

But that wasn’t the full picture.

Roughly three months later, after surveying more than 2,000 participants and conducting two focus groups with Gen Z participants, the research nonprofit More in Common found valuable insights for their question, “Is Gen Z giving up on democracy?”

Key findings include:

• A quarter (25%) of Gen Z say they don’t really care about the Constitution.
• Nearly half of (47%) of Gen Z Americans agree that “sometimes it’s okay for leaders to set aside democratic principles (e.g. constitutional checks and balances) to fix the economy.
• Low political involvement is a strong predictor of Gen Z’s anti-democratic attitudes.
• Despite these statistics, Gen Zers are not pro-authoritarian so much as skeptical towards our democracy. This skepticism can be explained by many factors: distrust in institutions, heightened exposure to social media and most importantly, disillusionment with politics.

Mehrotra said her research also uncovered signs of hope. Gen Z isn't inherently opposed to democracy – they just don’t feel heard in ours. And meaningful engagement with their concerns could change that. Mehrotra urged democracy groups and politicians alike to recognize Gen Z’s disillusionment as a potential opportunity, rather than a crisis.

“The biggest takeaway I can emphasize is that to make Gen Z invested in our democracy, we need to listen to their problems, rather than dismissing them,” she said.

Sean Shrader, a former student podcast fellow with The Democracy Group, said many of his peers feel frustrated by the lack of urgency and ineffective responses to today’s biggest societal challenges.

“Personally, I still remain very optimistic about protecting democracy, and recognizing its true value as a model of government that is citizen-driven,” Shrader said. “There is no easy solution, but I believe bipartisanship, alignment on clear goals that benefit everyone will help to restore belief in the efficacy of democratic principles.”

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