Three-quarters of U.S. adults say the future of democracy faces a serious threat, according to a new survey.
The latest poll from NPR/PBS News/Marist, shows that when asked if they see a “serious threat” to the future of democracy in terms of issues dividing the nation, 76 percent of respondents said they do. Another 24 percent said the opposite.
Democrats, 89 percent, and independents, 80 percent, were more likely to agree a “serious threat” to democracy exists. Just over half of Republicans — 57 percent — say the same, the survey shows.
Among supporters of former Vice President Harris’s 2024 presidential campaign, 92 percent say democracy faces a serious threat, while 57 percent of President Trump’s 2024 supporters agreed.
There is a minor generational divide, with Generation Z — individuals born between 1997 and 2012 — slightly less likely to identify the threat, the poll found.
Those who say democracy faces a serious threat include 72 percent of Gen Z, 77 percent of Millennials, 76 percent of Generation X and 76 percent of a combined group of Baby Boomers, Silent Generation and the Greatest Generation.
There is no statistically meaningful difference in the share of respondents who see democracy as a serious threat now, compared to the April 2025 survey, which showed 77 percent seeing a serious threat, according to the analysis.
In January 2025, 73 percent said there was a serious threat to the future of democracy — a marked drop from the previous time the survey asked the question in August 2023, when 87 percent held this view.
The NPR/PBS/Marist survey includes 1,381 national adults and was conducted June 23-25. The margin of error is 2.9 percentage points.
