People in various regions across the globe are unhappy with their political systems and elected officials, according to a new Pew Research Centre survey.
Majorities in 20 of the 25 countries surveyed say their political system needs either major changes or complete reform, with roughly eight-in-10 adults or more holding this view in Argentina, Brazil, Greece, Kenya, Nigeria, South Korea, and the US.
However, many of those who want significant political change in their country are not confident it can happen – people who want major changes or complete reform tend to be more pessimistic than optimistic about the potential for change.
In contrast, there are seven nations where about four-in-10 adults or more believe their political system needs only minor changes or no changes at all. Roughly seven-in-10 hold this view in the Netherlands and Sweden.
Views of political parties are also mostly negative – and relatively few receive favourable ratings from a majority of the public in their country. In many countries, there’s at least one political party seen favourably by a majority of adults – but in 15 countries, no party asked about this gets positive ratings from a majority.
Additional key findings from the report include:
Views of elected officials
We asked adults to rate how common five characteristics are among the elected officials in their country. In general, people give their elected officials fairly negative ratings on these measures.
- Just under half of adults across the 25 countries (47% median) say few or none of their elected officials are honest. A similar share (46%) believe few or none understand the needs of ordinary people.
- Medians of roughly four-in-10 think few or none of their elected officials are ethical or that they focus on their country’s most important problems. A 37% median see few or none as well-qualified for their positions.
People in Greece, Italy, Spain, Turkey, and the US tend to stand out for their negative assessments of politicians, as do those in the African and Latin American countries surveyed. By contrast, people in Canada, India, Japan, the Netherlands, and Sweden are generally less critical of their elected leaders.
Views of political parties
In many countries surveyed, the main governing party is unpopular. But this is not the case everywhere: At least six-in-10 adults have a positive view of the governing party in Indonesia (80%), Mexico (78%), India (76%), and South Africa (63%).
In most surveyed countries, around a quarter of adults or fewer have unfavourable opinions of both the main governing party and the main opposition party. Greece and Japan stand out for having large shares of people with these “double negative” views.
In the 10 European countries included in our survey, we asked about at least one right-wing populist party. Most of these parties are unpopular. Forza Italia in Italy is the only one of 13 right-wing populist parties in the survey to receive a positive assessment from more than half of adults in the country.
Since Pew Research started asking about some far-right populist parties in 2016, support for several of them has grown significantly – including Forza Italia, National Rally in France, and Alternative for Germany (AfD). Views of Reform UK and Vox in Spain have also improved in recent years.