Rules TBD.
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).
Democracies have never been anything other than disguised oligarchies. As good old Blanqui said: "What is a democrat, I pray you? It is a vague, banal word, without precise meaning, a rubber word. Everyone claims to be a democrat."
Damn evil CCP brainwashing their people to think that democracy is important /s
Those poor naive people have been brainwashed into thinking their government helps people. Us enlightened and free Westerners know the system's rigged and that those in power don't give a shit about what we think, which proves the superiority of our system 
Its incredibly depressing talking to western liberals about politics. They can't even imagine that countries actually exist where the goverment isn't trying to kill them at all times.
What's even worse, is that when looking at any societal problem, the first place they look is the how the US half-tries and fails to solve a problem. How the US does anything, whether it be from health care, to law, to caring for the environment, should be the case study in what not to do. It's a rare person who looks at how any non-western country tackles problems.
The liberal worldview rests on a theological conviction that liberalism represents the pinnacle of governance, inherently destined to yield the best possible results. This article of faith, treated as self-evident truth, then dictates that any non-liberal system is, by definition, repressive and inferior. It's a conclusion that requires no further examination.
This will be unironically what libs and conservatives post if they ever saw this. Of course they won't ever see it because they have a premium media diet of 100% western cope so they can imagine how they're forces for good in the world as they repeatedly ignore every sign that the west is taking all the money and burning down everything it touches.
That's because they're brainwashed by propaganda.
The US us not at all democratic.
Something not mentioned in the comments; In my experience Americans do not really understand democracy ; they understand voting. But ignore everything after they leave the voting booth, including how their votes are counted ( which in much of the USA are some private companies who hide their methods and do not allow recounts). Any United Nations method used to detect cheating shows massive amounts of ballot stuffing. This is ignored.
My point mentioning the above is that the United States is not a democracy by any metric, but pretends more than any other country that it is. And because the people of the USA fundamentally do not understand this, any improvement in the USA, improving quality of life, cannot be by democratic methods.
Some background information on the source. From NATOpedia:
The Alliance of Democracies Foundation (AoD) is a non-profit organisation dedicated to the advancement of democracy and free markets across the globe
It was founded in 2017 by war criminal, former NATO secretary general and likely current CIA asset Anders Fogh Rasmussen. Among the co-founders you find the politically connected oligarch Fritz Schur who provided a significant part of the funding for Anders Fogh Rasmussen's Liberal Party during his tenure as prime minister.
It is an organisation devoted to advance atlanticism, neoliberalism and western imperialism.
And yet, it still shows China in a more positive light than its masters.
Yes. That's what makes it quite remarkable.
There could be several reasons why such an organisation would publish this. It could have been published with the expectation that it would only be read among the elite who actually needs accurate information. It could also have been published to push for some sort of "renewal of democracy" through tighter control of the media and harsher repression of dissidents. It could also simply be a "look at his brainwashed the Chinese are!" Kind of thing.
in other words, it's an org that cannot possibly be accused of having a pro Chinese bias