State of U.S. democracy reaches new low, report finds

The U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C. A new report from the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance finds U.S. democracy at 50-year low. Allison Robbert/AP hide caption

U.S. democracy has reached its lowest levels in 50 years, according to a new global report that tracks democratic performance around the world.

For several years, Dr. Seema Shah, who heads the Stockholm-based International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance's democracy assessment team, said their researchers have observed a global pattern of democratic decline: "Severe drops in scores that measure freedom of expression, freedom of the press, credible elections, effective parliament," she said.

Shah says that in the 50 years of compiling this survey, she's seen undemocratic trends like this correcting themselves.

"It's getting worse and worse," Shah says. "So that's really worrying, especially because we also see that people are more willing in some cases to consider non-democratic leadership or non-democratic governance."

The organization's annual Global State of Democracy report, which tracks democratic performance across 174 countries and draws on data going back to 1975, was released Tuesday. The latest report focuses on changes in democratic performance between 2020 and 2025.

And Shah says one country stood out for how far its democracy has declined. "The clearest example, unfortunately, is the United States," she says.

The report says that in 2025, "President Donald Trump quickly amassed power in the executive branch and wielded it to further a narrow set of personal goals and pursue retaliation against perceived enemies. … The results have been far-reaching, undermining the rule of law domestically and internationally and testing long-standing alliances and multilateral cooperation."