A poll of young people in Europe, reported in the Guardian in early July, found support for democracy was dropping in certain European countries – being lowest in France, Spain and Poland – while 21% said they would back authoritarian rule under certain circumstances.
While a majority of Europe’s generation Z (57%) said they preferred democracy to any other form of government, this figure dropped to 48% in Poland and was only about 51-52% in Spain and France. Germany was the highest at 71%. For the 21% who said they would favour authoritarian rule under certain circumstances, the figure was highest in Italy at 24%, with France, Spain and Poland just behind with 23%, and lowest in Germany with just 15%.
Thorsten Faas, a political scientist from Berlin’s Free University, who worked on the study, said: “Among people who see themselves as politically to the right of centre and feel economically disadvantaged, their support of democracy sinks to just one in three.
The study was carried out in April and May by the YouGov institute on behalf of the Tui Foundation. More than 6,700 people between the ages of 16 and 26, from Britain, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Greece and Poland, took part.
With regard to the EU itself, some two in three respondents expressed support for their country remaining in the bloc, though 39% described the EU as not particularly democratic and 53% felt the EU was too focused on details and trivia. On Brexit, 73% of UK respondents favoured a return to the bloc!
Elke Hlawatschek, the head of the Tui Foundation, said: “The European project, which has brought us peace, freedom of movement and economic progress for decades, is seen as unwieldy.”
Read the Guardian report here.