Is America Still a Democratic Country?

V‑Dem’s stark verdict

The Varieties of Democracy Institute (V‑Dem) has concluded that the United States is no longer a liberal democracy. In its 2026 Democracy Report the Sweden‑based research group said the US’s Liberal Democracy Index score fell 24% in one year, pushing its rank among 179 countries from 20th to 51st — a decline the researchers call the fastest and deepest in modern democratic history. V‑Dem, which compiles data back to 1789 and uses dozens of indicators and thousands of country experts, termed the trajectory “autocratisation.”

How did V‑Dem reach that conclusion?

V‑Dem argues the key driver is a rapid concentration of power in the presidency accompanied by weakened checks and balances: a sidelined Congress, a politicized civil service and inspectorate system, and sustained pressure on courts, media, academia and civil society. The report notes that elections are still being held, but it warns the system is under new risks; it has been reported that media accounts show about 40% of election workers left after 2020, a sign V‑Dem cites as indicative of rising threats to election administration. The institute used 48 indicators in this report — from media freedom to judicial independence — to build its “liberal democracy” measure.

Pushback and comparative assessments

The report provoked immediate debate. Supporters say V‑Dem quantified trends many scholars have flagged — politicization of institutions, increased threats to judges and officials, and a degraded information ecosystem. Critics, including some US scholars and conservative commentators, argue V‑Dem’s liberal‑democracy standard reflects a Northern European model and can undercount institutional differences inherent in the US presidential and federal systems. It should also be noted that established rating bodies have reached different conclusions: Freedom House still labels the US “free” while the Economist Intelligence Unit classifies it as a “flawed democracy,” not authoritarian.

What this means geopolitically

If America’s democratic credentials are in perceptible decline, the implications are global. US claims to normative leadership on governance, human rights and trade standards could weaken at a time of rising great‑power competition. V‑Dem’s founder warned that autocratisation is a process, not a single event; the 2026 midterms are flagged as a key test. So where does that leave partners and rivals? If the world’s most prominent liberal democracy appears to be backsliding, the question is not only political but strategic: what happens to alliances, trade policy and the rules‑based order if democratic erosion continues?