Poll: Only half of Americans have faith in democracy

Just half of Americans report they have faith in U.S. democracy in a new Axios/Survey Monkey poll conducted late last month and reported Monday. Nearly one in 10 say they never had faith in democracy in the first place, and 37 percent report they once had faith but have now lost it.

Axios and Survey Monkey have asked the same question six times since October 2016 and found a rise in democratic faith around the presidential election that was erased over the following 12 months with steady numbers since.

While no demographic group expressed more than 70 percent faith in democracy, some demographics were substantially more likely to express it than others. White people and Hispanics, Republicans, suburbanites, men, the elderly, the college educated, and supporters of President Trump were the most likely to say they have faith in democracy now.

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By contrast, black people, women, voters aged 18-34, urbanites, those with a high school education or less, Gary Johnson voters in 2016, nonvoters, and political independents were disproportionately likely to say they never had faith.

And self-identified liberal Democrats were the demographic most likely, at 55 percent, to say they have lost their faith in American democracy.