Russian electoral interference is undermining faith in democracy itself, argues Pippa Norris, professor of government and international relations at the University of Sydney and a McGuire lecturer in comparative politics at Harvard University.
“As director of the Electoral Integrity Project, established in 2012, I’ve studied these issues for many years. In a new research paper, I analyzed World Values Survey data in 42 societies worldwide during the period from 2010 to 2014, and from the United States in 2017,” she writes:
The results suggest that perception of electoral integrity is a strong predictor of satisfaction with democracy in both the United States and in other nations. Feelings that elections were free and fair are more closely linked with democratic satisfaction than many other predictors, including household income and financial security, sex, race, age and education.
The persistence of serious flaws – including an excess of money in politics, the lack of gender equality and minority representation in elected office and the protection of incumbents through partisan gerrymandering – combined with partisan attacks and a lack of effective reforms is threatening faith in American democracy, she contends. RTWT
