Only 33.3% of respondents in Germany said they were satisfied with democracy’s everyday functioning, a new study found, highlighting a wide gap between public backing for the system and views of its performance. Study authors presented the findings in Berlin on Nov. 11.
The 2026 Leipzig Authoritarianism Study put support for democracy as an idea at 89.3% and satisfaction with democracy under the constitutional order at 65.2%. The everyday-functioning result was nine percentage points below the 42.3% measured in 2024 and the lowest recorded in the study series.
Views also varied by region. In eastern Germany, 22.8% said they were satisfied with democracy’s everyday functioning, compared with 36% in western Germany. The study described the eastern result as significantly lower.
Researchers surveyed 2,507 randomly selected people aged 16 and older from March 16 to June 3, 2026. Participants completed questionnaires themselves. The study treats the three measures separately: the 33.3% figure concerns how democracy operates in daily life, rather than support for its ideals or approval of its constitutional framework.
The broader study series began in 2002; researchers have measured views of democracy as an idea, its constitutional form and its everyday functioning separately since 2006. The 2026 reading was the first time support for democracy as an idea fell below 90% in the series.
The report also found that 58.6% met its measure of political deprivation, based on responses about people’s perceived influence over government and whether political engagement seemed worthwhile. It presents that result as context for democratic satisfaction, not as proof of what caused the lower rating. The report says everyday satisfaction was higher in 2022. Its authors interpret that period’s stronger pandemic-era executive as having met an authoritarian need among broad sections of the public, but they do not establish that as the cause of the current decline.
Professor Oliver Decker, the study leader, said in a Leipzig University release, “Our democracy is under enormous pressure.”
