Meanwhile, 44 percent backed the American tradition of competing branches of government as a model, if sometimes “frustrating,” system.

Why would people want to live under an authoritarian’s thumb? It’s rooted, experts say, in a psychological need for security—real or perceived—and a desire for conformity, a goal that becomes even more acute as the country undergoes dramatic demographic and social changes. People also like to obey a strong leader who will protect the group—especially if it is the “right” group whose interests will be protected. Recall the Trump supporter who, during the 2019 government shutdown, complained, “He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.”

    • NABDad@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      It’s more than that, but some of them accidentally believe that democracy is good.

    • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      You can pretty much ask almost any insane thing and it somehow always comes out to at least 30% of Americans.

      I sometimes wonder if it’d always the same 30% and there just 30% idiots, or if that 30% spans multiple topics and groups of idiots and its actually higher like 60%

      • candybrie@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        I wonder if it’s something like 25% of survey respondents are just picking the most outrageous thing and 5% actually believe that way. I remember a while ago on a survey about being ok with political violence, they tried to control for that kind of thing and it dropped the numbers a lot.