WASHINGTON (AP) — Concerns are mounting internationally about the state of American democracy, with new reports suggesting a rapid decline under President Donald Trump’s second term. Multiple studies released this week indicate the U.S. is exhibiting characteristics increasingly associated with authoritarian regimes, prompting alarm among democracy watchdogs and a reassessment of America’s global role in promoting democratic values.
V-Dem, a research institute at Sweden’s University of Gothenburg, released a report detailing an “unprecedented” dismantling of American democracy. The study, based on data from over 4,000 scholars, found the U.S. democracy ranking plummeted from 20th to 51st out of 179 countries in the past year, placing it between Slovakia and Greece. Staffan Lindberg, V-Dem’s founding director, warned the concentration of power in the presidency, coupled with attacks on media freedom and freedom of speech, is happening at a speed comparable to democratic backsliding seen in India, Turkey, and Hungary – nations where leaders initially came to power through democratic elections but subsequently undermined checks and balances.
“Developments in the United States are moving towards dictatorship – what the founders wanted to avoid. And it’s going very fast,” Lindberg said.
A separate report by Bright Line Watch, surveying over 500 U.S. scholars, found the U.S. now falls nearly midway between liberal democracy and dictatorship. Dartmouth’s John Carey, a codirector of the project, noted that while the courts have, at times, served as a check on presidential power – citing a recent Supreme Court ruling on tariffs – the overall trend is concerning.
“One of the things that the tariff decision suggested anyway is that he has not fully captured that set of referees, and that’s the most important set,” Carey said.
Brendan Nyhan, also a Bright Line Watch codirector, cautioned against assuming the changes are irreversible. “There’s just no question that what we’re seeing is the authoritarian playbook. But there’s no guarantee that Trump will be able to operate this way after the midterms, let alone a successor after 2028.”
The findings come as President Trump himself has repeatedly dismissed concerns about authoritarianism, even joking about the possibility of being a dictator. “He’s a dictator. He’s a dictator. A lot of people are saying maybe we like a dictator. I don’t like a dictator. I’m not a dictator,” Trump said in remarks last August.
The administration has dismissed the reports as biased. White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales called V-Dem’s analysis a “ridiculous claim made by an irrelevant, blatantly biased organization.”
Beyond the academic assessments, Freedom House, a D.C.-based think tank, also downgraded its rating of the United States, citing increased use of executive power and the acceptance of gifts from foreign governments, including a 747 from Qatar. Yana Gorokhovskaia, director for strategy and design at Freedom House, highlighted a shift in U.S. foreign policy.
“What we’re losing is democratic solidarity globally, where we’re no longer emphasizing, as the United States, a distinction between democracies and autocracies in the world,” she said. She also pointed to the State Department’s altered approach to commenting on foreign elections, now only offering commentary when the U.S. has a “clear and compelling interest.”
The reports collectively paint a troubling picture of a nation grappling with internal threats to its democratic institutions, and a potential erosion of its leadership role in advocating for democracy abroad.
