What is the biggest threat to US democracy? New poll finds bipartisan agreement

What is the biggest threat to American democracy? One might expect that a question as fundamental as this would spark intense partisan disagreement.

But, it turns out, both sides of the aisle are largely aligned on the answer.

Pluralities of Democrats, Republicans and independents all believe the No. 1 danger facing U.S. democracy is political corruption, according to a new YouGov poll.

Overall, 38% of respondents named political corruption as the biggest threat, while 16% said misinformation and 13% said political division. Following these, 9% said media bias; 5% said election fraud and 3% said voter suppression.

When broken down by partisan affiliation, the rankings were largely similar — though there were some differences.

Forty-four percent of Democrats chose political division, as did 38% of Republicans and 34% of independents.

The second most popular choice among Democrats and independents was misinformation — with 19% and 16%, respectively, naming it as the number one threat facing democracy.

But among Republicans, the second most named choice was media bias — with 16% selecting it.

The results of the poll — conducted with 4,759 U.S. adults on Feb. 12 — differed slightly from a similar YouGov survey fielded in October 2024.

In that poll, political corruption was the most popular choice for the biggest threat to democracy, but it was chosen by a smaller share of respondents.

Overall, 26% of respondents listed it as the No. 1 threat — 12% less than in the latest poll.

One-quarter of independents and 28% of Republicans listed it as the premier threat — making it the top choice for both groups. For Democrats, the No. 1 threat was misinformation (30%).

This poll was conducted on Oct. 31 2024 with 10,706 U.S. adults.

This story was originally published February 13, 2025 at 1:20 PM with the headline "What is the biggest threat to US democracy? New poll finds bipartisan agreement."