Majority of California voters believe U.S. democracy in serious trouble: poll

LOS ANGELES, July 11 (Xinhua) -- A substantial majority of California voters believe that U.S. democracy is in serious trouble, according to a new poll recently published by the Institute of Governmental Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.

The poll released Thursday showed 64 percent of registered voters in the most populous U.S. state agree that "American democracy is under attack," while 26 percent describe it as "being tested, but it is not under attack." Only 10 percent of California voters think the democracy is in "no danger."

At least 60 percent of registered voters across all demographic groups agree that U.S. democracy is under attack, the poll found. The belief that American democracy is under attack is the highest among those 65 years old and above (70 percent), white (69 percent) and Black (74 percent) respondents.

Only 1 percent of Black respondents felt American democracy is in no danger, according to the poll.

"These results underscore the deep concerns that many California voters have about the state of American democracy. Not many years ago, it is hard to imagine that a majority of voters would have seen U.S. democracy as under severe threat," said Eric Schickler, co-director of the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies.

The poll was conducted by distributing email and text message invitations to stratified random samples of over 6,400 registered voters in California from June 2-6. Enditem