According to a Pew Research Center survey, around 85% of Indians support an authoritarian system. The survey was conducted among 30,861 people in 24 countries from 20 February to 22 May 2023.
72% Indians Support Military Rule
As per the report, around 67% of Indians support a system where a strong leader can make decisions without interference from the parliament or courts. Additionally, 72% of Indians support military rule in the country.
Who supports authoritarian systems? In most of the 18 countries where we asked about ideology, people on the ideological right are more likely than those in the center or on the left to support authoritarian systems. 🧵⬇️
— Pew Research Center (@pewresearch) February 28, 2024
While ratings for democracy are generally negative across all surveyed countries, with 59% expressing dissatisfaction with how democracy is working in their country, India is an exception. Over 72% of Indians expressed satisfaction with the way democracy operates in their country.
Further, 79% of Indians believe that a democratic system with elected representatives is a good way of governing. Moreover, 80% of Indians support a direct democracy, and 82% support a technocracy, believing that experts instead of elected officials should make decisions.
More Women Elected Officials Beneficial for Policy
As per the report, most people believe that having more women, young adults or people from poor backgrounds in office would be beneficial. Almost 7 in 10 Indians (over 68%) believe that policies in their country would improve if more elected officials were women. India has recently reserved one-third of its parliamentary seats for women.
Additionally, 62% of Indians believe that policies would see an improvement if more officials elected were from poor backgrounds, 64% that they would improve with more young adults in office, while 55% believe that they would get better with more businesspeople in office.
Meanwhile, 57% of Indians said that an increase in the number of labour union members in office would help improve policies. In comparison, 54% said that electing religious politicians would help make better policies.
Lastly, while 54% of Indians feel that election officials do not care what people like them think, 58% believe that at least one of the political parties represents their views.
Representative Democracy Still Popular
In the chapter on “Attitudes toward different types of government systems,” the report suggested that despite the decreasing health of democracy in many nations, representative democracy remains popular among citizens of the globe. However, strong support for representative democracy has declined since 2017.
Support for rule by a strong leader also saw an increase in eight surveyed countries, including India. As per the report, several middle-income countries see strong support for authoritarianism. India is followed by Indonesia, where 77% of people perceived rule by a strong leader or military to be a good way to govern their country. It is least supported in high-income countries, with Sweden last on the list, with 8% of people in support.
Regarding political representation, four in ten people believe that no political party in their country represents their views. At the same time, 74% say that elected officials do not care about what people like them think. Sweden was the only country with a majority of 56% believing that their elected officials felt about them.