After an awful performance at the first presidential debate, Joe Biden announced to drop out the presidential election and supported Kamala Harris to be the nominee of the Democratic Party on July 21. However, The voters of the US may hesitate to pick a candidate, no matter Donald Trump, Joe Biden, or a new candidate, after watching a debate full of personal abuses.
As one of the biggest political events in the world, the US presidential election is regarded as an example of democracy. Nevertheless, according to the Democracy Index 2023, a global poll on democracy by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), Americans' trust in their system of government is hitting new lows, lower than at any time since the EIU categorized America as a "flawed democracy" in 2016.
"American democracy does go significantly towards representing the people's will but not entirely, as we see presidents are elected to a very powerful office without winning the majority vote in the country. Even that is unacceptable, frankly," said Sourabh Gupta, an expert on international politics at the Institute for China-America Studies, in a recent interview with GDToday.
"So I think in the US currently, we aren't a true democracy. So I don't necessarily have a direct voice or a direct say over what happens with the government. It's not a fair system because it's not a direct vote, so the popular vote isn't what's counted. It's based on the Electoral College," said Alex Harrison, a US citizen.
US citizen Josh Greenfield expressed his concern about the American election to GDToday. He stressed that money has become too much of an incentive in US politics. "Lobbying is also kind of an issue, especially since corporate personhood became a thing. You need a lot of money to campaign to be president, and naturally, that will give an advantage to those who already have a lot of money," he said.
As the raging internal discord continues between the Democratic and Republican parties, is it true that American voters have grown tired and lost hope? Some even claim that the 2024 presidential election will be the crossroad for American democracy, either gathering steam for reform or worsening the situation. Has the system ceased to exist to this day?
What has actually gone wrong with democracy in the US? Does the US really count as a true democracy? Will this "flawed democracy" be reinvented after the upcoming election? Let's find out the answers in this episode of Facts Unpacked.
Reporter | Jersey Kwok, Lydia Liu, Steven Yuen,
Video editor | Jimmy Guan
Poster | Mia Lai
Editor | Will, Abby, James
Zheng Suxin, Zhou Jing, Zeng Qianzhi, Zeng Xiaoying, Yao Jingsen, Peng Yuyan, Wang Zhelin, Yang Lin, Qiu Xianyi also contributed to the story.
