Trump is dismantling democracy at 'unprecedented' speed, global report finds [View all]
Source: NPR
March 20, 2026 12:01 AM ET
Three major reports out this month say President Trump has done serious damage to American democracy at remarkable speed since his return to the White House.
An annual report from V-Dem, an institute at Sweden's University of Gothenburg, concluded democracy had deteriorated so much in the U.S. that it lowered the country's democracy ranking from 20th to 51st out of 179 countries. The U.S. landed between Slovakia and Greece.
Meanwhile, Bright Line Watch, which surveys more than 500 U.S. scholars, concluded that the U.S. system now falls nearly midway between liberal democracy and dictatorship. The newest survey comes out next week. Bright Line Watch's co-directors spoke to NPR exclusively ahead of publication.
Yet another report out Thursday from Freedom House, a Washington, D.C.-based democracy think-tank, said that among free countries, the U.S. joined Bulgaria and Italy in registering the largest declines in political rights and civil liberties last year.
Read more: https://www.npr.org/2026/03/20/nx-s1-5754021/trump-democracy-autocracy-dictatorship-reports
Link to V-Dem (Varieties of Democracy) Institute report site - The V-Dem Dataset v16 and the V-Dem Institute Democracy Report 2026: "Unraveling The Democratic Era?"
Link to V-Dem (Varieties of Democracy) Institute REPORT (PDF) - https://www.v-dem.net/documents/75/V-Dem_Institute_Democracy_Report_2026_lowres.pdf
Link to Freedom House report site - Freedom in the World 2026 The Growing Shadow of Autocracy
Link to Freedom House REPORT (PDF) - https://freedomhouse.org/sites/default/files/2026-03/FIW2026_final_digital%20%281%29.pdf
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