About one in three Americans prefers strong unelected leaders to weak elected leaders and says presidents should be able to remove judges over their decisions, according to the latest findings from our Axios-Ipsos Two Americas Index.<\/p>\n
Why it matters:<\/strong> The findings from this poll shatter the myth that Americans overwhelmingly agree on a common set of democratic values around checks and balances on elected leaders, protection of minority rights and freedom of speech.<\/p>\n What we're watching<\/strong>: In this poll, significant minorities of Republicans and Democrats supported non-democratic norms in about equal percentages \u2014 and Democrats were more likely than Republicans to say presidents should be able to remove judges when their decisions go against the national interest.<\/p>\n The big picture:<\/strong> If you're looking for good news in this poll, it is primarily that the people who embrace the anti-democratic views are still in the minority. <\/p>\n What they're saying:<\/strong> "There's a lot of anti-democratic sentiment, a lot more than we might have expected," said Justin Gest, an associate professor at George Mason University who studies the politics of demographic change and advises the project.<\/p>\n By the numbers: <\/strong>One in three surveyed agreed that it's better to have a strong, unelected leader than a weak elected leader \u2014 with a larger share of Republicans (42%) than Democrats (31%) sharing that view.<\/p>\n Methodology: This Axios\/Ipsos Poll was conducted Sept. 1-2 by Ipsos on their online survey panels in English. This poll is based on a sample of 1,001 general population adults age 18 or older, weighted on age, gender, race\/ethnicity, education, and location to be nationally representative.<\/em><\/p>\n\n
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