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    July 10, 2024 ABA Task Force for American Democracy

    American democracy is cracking. These forces help explain why.

    Dan Balz and Clara Ence Morse, Washington Post, Aug. 18, 2023
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    Summary

    Two main forces are straining democracy: first, structural barriers to popular control and representation, such as the Electoral College, the Senate, and lifetime Supreme Court terms; and second, the deepening polarization of the political system along partisan, regional, cultural, and urban/rural dimensions.

    Key Findings

    Forces contributing to the current climate include:

    • a long-running decline of trust in government institutions
    • political polarization straining an ill-prepared Constitution
    • the Electoral College and general decrease in the number of swing states
    • the structure of the Senate and gerrymandering of House districts, which beget polarization and poor representation in Congress
    • the Supreme Court’s unrepresentative composition
    • the rise in state legislature supermajorities
    • the near-impossibility of amending the Constitution