The Economist - USA (2021-10-09)

32 TheEconomistOctober9th 2021
The Americas

TheLatinobarómetropoll

Democracy’s scorecard

L

ess thanhalf  of  Latin  Americans  are

committed  democrats  and  a  growing

number  are  indifferent  towards  their

country’s political regime. A large majority

remain  deeply  dissatisfied  with  the  way

their  democracies  work  in  practice  and

they  place  little  trust  in  their  institutions

or in each other. They are opposed to mili­

tary government but a growing number are

prepared  to  accept  elected caudillos

(strongmen).  And  they  continue  to  have

more trust in the United States than China.

These  are  some  of  the  findings  of  the

latest  Latinobarómetro  poll,  taken  in  18

countries and published exclusively in The

Economist. Because the poll has been taken

regularly since 1995 it shows how attitudes

in  the  region  are  evolving.  The  latest  poll

reflects views after the first seven months

or so of the pandemic, which complicated

the  fieldwork.  Face­to­face  interviews

were  conducted  in  17  countries  between

October and December 2020. That was not

possible  in  Argentina,  because  of  a  pro­

longed lockdown. On­line interviews were

conducted there in May 2021.

The pandemichas hitLatinAmerica

disproportionately hard:with 8%ofthe

world’spopulationithassufferedaround

14%oftotalexcessdeaths,accordingtoThe

Economist’sestimates(or44%morethan

thealreadyprodigiousnumberregistered

intheregionofficially).Despitethisshock,

thepolldidnotshowa drasticchangein

politicalattitudescomparedwiththepre­

viousonein2018.“Iexpecteda fallinsup­

portfordemocracy,”saysMartaLagos,Lat­

inobarómetro’sdirector.That thisdidn’t

happenmayreflect“thesenseofsolidari­

ty”thepandemicgenerated,atleastinits

earlymonths.

Butthebroadtrend,expressedinrecent

protestsinseveralcountries,comesover

loudand clear.Compared with thelate

1990s,whenthetransitionfromdictator­

shiptodemocracywasstillfreshinmany

countries,supportfordemocracyinthere­

gionhaswaned(seechart1).Only49%say

thatdemocracyistheirpreferredformof

government. Support for authoritarian

governmentislow,at13%.But,worryingly,

morethan aquarterofrespondentssay

theydon’tcarewhetherornottheircoun­

tryisdemocratic,afigurethathasrisen

from16%in2010.Askthequestionina dif­

ferent,Churchillian wayand63% think

that,whiledemocracymayhaveproblems,

itisthebestsystem,downfroma peakof

79%in2013.

Supportfordemocracyishighestwhere

itismostconsolidated,inUruguay,Costa

RicaandChile.It ishigh,too,inVenezuela,

whichisnowadictatorship.Changesof

government following elections tend to

bringfreshhopeindemocracy.That ap­

pliedin 2020 toElSalvador,Guatemalaand

Paraguay.ElSalvadorisanexampleofa de­

mandforstrongpopulistleadership:Nay­

ibBukelewaselectedpresident in2019,

bullied the congress and the supreme

The pandemic did not immediately upendpoliticalattitudes

→Alsointhissection

33 Canadianfootball

34 Argentina’slibertarians

Increasingly indifferent

Latin America, preferred form of government

% responding

Source:Latinobarómetro



70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

1995 2000 20151005

Democratic

Don’tcare

Authoritarian

Democratic

Weighted by population

— Bello is away