The data is coming from the world's largest democracy perception study, published by the Alliance of Democracies Foundation (a Danish-based non-profit organisation).
this post was submitted on 20 Jun 2025
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Assuming this is a reasonable representation of public opinion in the two countries (and I don't yet have reason to assume otherwise, despite the neoliberal position of the founders of the institute commissioning the survey), I now think it would be interesting to see a breakdown, country by country, of the discrepancy between public perception of democracy and independent observers' ratings of democracy in those same countries.
The perception of democracy by a country's own people is likely the strongest indicator of its health. After all, what could be more relevant than the lived experience of the populace? If people don't feel that their government serves them, then external ratings showing otherwise, however meticulously compiled, miss the core reality of the situation.
Furthermore, coming up with a truly comprehensive and universally agreed-upon rating system for democracy is itself a non-trivial challenge. Would such a rating heavily weigh material conditions, levels of inequality, access to public services, or more abstract freedoms like speech and assembly? And crucially, who decides which of these aspects are the most important or hold the greatest weight in determining a nation's democratic standing?
How are you determining "independent"?