A new global poll shows that 85 percent of respondents in China agree on the importance of democracy, according to the Voice of America. Meanwhile, 71 percent of Chinese respondents believe China has achieved democracy and is sufficiently democratic, despite the fact that China has ranked at the bottom of the global “democracy index” for years.
But in stark contrast to China, just over half of the world’s population believes their country is democratic; even in democratic countries, that percentage is less than 60 percent of the population.
The countries where democracy is most recognized by their populations are Denmark, Switzerland and Norway. The countries with the lowest public approval of democracy worldwide are Venezuela, which is rated as “not free,” Iran and Hungary, which is “partly free.
In contrast, in “not free” China, people’s approval of democracy is on par with Norway’s (both at 71%).
The survey, called the Democracy Perception Index, was commissioned by the Alliance of Democracies Foundation, an international nonprofit organization, and conducted by German pollster Latana. The survey was conducted between February 24 and April 14 of this year and polled 53,194 respondents in 53 countries worldwide.
Fred DeVeaux, one of the main authors of the report, has emphasized that the results of the Democracy Perception Index are the subjective understanding of the respondents, not objective facts.
Teng Biao, a U.S.-based Chinese human rights lawyer, told VOA that since China does not have a free media and people’s freedom of speech is greatly restricted, the data behind this survey of Chinese people is the success of government propaganda and brainwashing on the one hand, and the fact that some people are afraid to criticize the government and say that China is not democratic on the other.
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