New Survey Shows Trump Is Damaging The U.S. Democracy

The chart above is from the 2018 V-DEM Annual Democracy Report. They surveyed the state of Democracy in 178 countries around the world. The United States fared worse in this annual report than it had in the past dropping from 7th in 2015 to 31st in 2017. They attribute that drop to the actions of Donald Trump, and the failure of Congress and the courts to act as a restraint on those actions. Here's the methodology of the report, and what it had to say about the United States.

METHODOLOGY

The survey asks more than 3,000 scholars and other country experts to evaluate each of 178 countries on the quality of core features of democracy. These experts distinguish between de jure and de facto democratic countries. For example, most countries today hold elections, but some of these elections are free and fair while others are severely rigged.

V-Dem usually asks five experts to evaluate each country on many features that characterize democracy. V-Dem then aggregates the expert assessments using a custom-built statistical model, including an estimate of uncertainty. When we speak of “significant” changes, we refer to changes that are notable even after taking this uncertainty into account.

Here we focus on the Liberal Democracy Index (LDI), which assesses whether there are free and fair elections; whether leaders are constrained by the rule of law and oversight by parliament and the judiciary; and whether civil liberties are protected.

UNITED STATES

The United States’ ranking on the V-Dem Liberal Democ- racy Index fell from seven in 2015 to 31 in 2017. There is clear evidence of autocratization on several indicators. The lower quality of liberal democracy stems primarily from weakening constraints on the executive.

V-Dem data indicate that the united States is significantly less democratic in 2017 than it was in previous years. We can at- tribute this decrease to changes that have occurred in the last two years—specifically, to weakening executive constraints. Notably, the greatest number of declines—as well as the declines of greatest magnitude—have occurred for indicators of legislative constraints. This includes the extent to which opposition parties exercise oversight, investigatory func- tions, and the likelihood that Congress or another body would investigate the executive and render an unfavorable decision in the presence of unconstitutional activities. The u.S. ratings are also plunging for the extent to which the executive branch respect the constitution, which is one indicator of judicial con- straints on the executive.

The negative changes associated with executive respect for the constitution and legislative constraints are congruent with the untempered behavior of the current president and the unwillingness of the Gop—which controls the legislative branch—to censor him. Some of president Trump’s actions in 2017 that exemplify this trend include legally question- able immigration bans, executive orders to withhold federal money from sanctuary cities, expanding the scope of the presidential pardon, diplomacy by social media, and potential violations of the emoluments Clause. Despite the Trump ad- ministration’s actions, u.S. legislators appear either unable or unwilling to take formal actions to prevent them.

party loyalties and increased polarization between Democrats and Republicans have undermined congressional oversight functions as Republican leaders so far double down in sup- port of the president. This was made apparent by the House Intelligence Committee investigation over possible collusion between the president and Russia, which House Democrats argued was prematurely ended and shelved. Its conclusion in 2018 illustrated the weakness of opposition party oversight and the decreased likelihood of Congress investigating and rendering an unfavorable decision against the executive.

The other main component of liberal democracy, which the V-Dem electoral Democracy Index measures, shows the united States falling from 8th place in 2015 to rank 32 out of 178 countries in 2017. This decline is largely due to significant decreases in the freedom of discussion and in the fairness of elections in the past two years.

Across the last decade, significant declines have also regis- tered in election intimidation and the range of media per- spectives provided. Changes in the indicators reflect allega- tions of election meddling and unlawful election practices in the 2016 election, as well as the acuteness of citizen antipathy toward opposing political views. electoral integrity in the united States has been negatively affected by partisan disa- greements over voting procedures and attempts to control or suppress voting, as exemplified by challenges to voter ID laws and gerrymandering practices that were put before federal courts in 2017 and 2018. . . .

In summary, the V-Dem data shows evidence that there has been a significant democratic backsliding in the united States which is attributable to weakening constraints on the executive. electoral democracy remains fairly strong in the united States and there is little change in freedoms and the rule of law. The biggest issues testing the resiliency of American democracy concern the ability of Congress and the courts to hold the executive responsible to the constitution.