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Democracy
About the author
Ryan Neelam
Ryan Neelam was Director of the Public Opinion and Foreign Policy Program at the Lowy Institute. He led the flagship annual Lowy Institute Poll, was project director for the Global Diplomacy Index, and wrote about climate diplomacy and multilateral policy.
Three-quarters of Australians (73%) continue to see democracy as preferable to any other kind of government, unchanged from a record high last year (74%). One in five (19%) say that ‘in some circumstances, a non-democratic government can be preferable’.
Younger Australians are now more likely to see democracy as preferable compared to five years ago, narrowing a long-running age gap on this issue. In 2018, there was a 28-point difference between the percentage of Australians aged under 45 who saw democracy as preferable (47%) and the percentage of those aged 45 and older who said the same (75%). In 2023, that generational difference in views has reduced to 11 points — 67% of that younger age group now see democracy as preferable, compared to 78% of those aged 45 and older.
