People in the United States and Western Europe take democracy for granted––not only is it the best game in town, it has been the only game in town for some time. But 2017 has not been a normal year politically, and many people are beginning to see cracks in the system. The success of Donald Trump in the U.S. and far-right populist candidates in Europe caused worry as political scientists and pollsters began to notice small trends in public opinion that show openness to non-democratic alternatives, such as technocrats or benevolent autocrats.

Though democracy still shares wide support across the developed world, more and more people are open to something different. A recent report from Pew released on November 7 gives cause for concern in a slightly different manner, though, as people support democracy a little too much: the idea of direct democracy is carrying the salience of a supermajority preference.