Are the young really so down on democracy? | Letters

It’s naturally concerning that a recent poll on which you report (13 January), and which Owen Jones refers to (Young people are abandoning democracy for dictators. I can understand their despair, 14 January), suggests that one in five young Britons would prefer an unelected dictator to democracy. However, comparing this with a 2022 poll gives rise to a more optimistic view: that among young Britons, support for unelected dictators appears to be falling, while support for democracy appears to be modestly increasing.

In the 2022 poll, by the thinktank Onward, only 72% of 18- to 24-year-olds and 76% of 25- to 34-year-olds agreed that democracy is a fairly or very good system of government (as against 94% of those aged 65-plus), while an astonishing 60% of 18- to 44-year-olds agreed that “a strong leader who does not have to bother with parliament and elections” is a fairly or very good system of government (as against 27% of those aged 65-plus). That poll didn’t ask respondents to choose between democracy and dictatorship, so comparison requires caution, but on any view the generation gap on support for democracy and dictatorship is not new, and the appeal of unelected dictatorship among the young appears to be on the wane.

Obvious explanations for the generation gap, such as erosion of cultural memory and breakdown of the social contract, need to be reflected on in light of the positive trend. We should try to keep level heads about such polls rather than using them as hooks for narratives that, given the medium-term data, don’t quite fit. The further question is what such data signifies about how young people feel about society – and it may in this regard be worthwhile asking them.
Dr Craig Reeves
Senior lecturer in law, Birkbeck, University of London

What is surprising about this poll is that it’s not more than one in five young people who has lost faith in democracy. Democracy has not delivered for them. Westminster has either consistently ignored them or taken action contrary to their interests. When faced with a crisis in our mismanaged universities, the government’s answer is to raise student fees – despite evidence that there is a dearth of well-paid jobs to fund these repayments. I read of somebody in the US who feared that they would be repaying their student loan until they die.

There is some hope, as the dysfunctional American strongman will demonstrate that he is no selfless Cincinnatus. Trump’s disastrous policies should discredit the notion of the strongman. But when our democratic leaders are so keen to toady up to him, they don’t demonstrate a compelling democratic alternative. When I think of Westminster politics, the phrase carved on Ozymandias’s toppled statue come to my mind: “look on my works … and despair.”
Derrick Joad
Leeds

It is shocking but unsurprising to see that 21% of 18- to 45-year-olds prefer an unelected strong leader. They are far removed from the realities of the 1930s and have been seduced online by so-called strongmen like Trump, Farage and inhabitants of the “manosphere” promising everything they want to hear. If something is not done to curb the lies and false promises on social media, we will indeed have a rerun of the 30s, and I’m glad I will be gone by then.
Jane Ghosh
Bristol