The
Pew Research Center reports that 40 percent of Americans believe rule by experts is a good way to govern society. Pew defines
rule by experts as a society in which "experts, not elected officials, make decisions according to what they think is best for the country." Fifty-eight percent disagree and believe it would be bad.
[1]
Those figures include nine percent who believe such a system would be very good and 31 percent who believe it would be very bad.
Americans are much more enthusiastic about representative democracy. Eighty-six percent believe it’s a good system, while only 13 percent see it as bad.
Those figures include 48 percent who see it as very good and 5 percent who see it as very bad.
Sixty-seven percent see direct democracy as a good system. Thirty-one percent believe it would be bad.
Footnotes:
- Pew Research Center, "Globally, Broad Support for Representative and Direct Democracy," October 16, 2017
Each weekday, Scott Rasmussen’s Number of the Day explores interesting and newsworthy topics at the intersection of culture, politics, and technology. Columns published on Ballotpedia reflect the views of the author.
Scott Rasmussen is founder and president of the Rasmussen Media Group. He is the author of "Mad as Hell: How the Tea Party Movement Is Fundamentally Remaking Our Two-Party System," "In Search of Self-Governance," and "The People’s Money: How Voters Will Balance the Budget and Eliminate the Federal Debt." Read more reports from Scott Rasmussen — Click Here Now.
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