Story perspectives

Study Reveals Widespread Antidemocratic Attitudes Across Ideologies

10/3/2025

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Summary

Story summary

A study in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences finds antidemocratic attitudes span ideologies, not confined to a single viewpoint.
Among 824 UK adults, researchers linked authoritarianism and chaotic thinking to support for antidemocratic ideas.
Participants fell into three worldviews—system-justifying, system-challenging, and neutral thinking—and open-mindedness and misperceptions about opponents both predicted antidemocratic attitudes, especially on free elections.

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Story summary

A study in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences finds antidemocratic attitudes span ideologies, not confined to a single viewpoint.
Among 824 UK adults, researchers linked authoritarianism and chaotic thinking to support for antidemocratic ideas.
Participants fell into three worldviews—system-justifying, system-challenging, and neutral thinking—and open-mindedness and misperceptions about opponents both predicted antidemocratic attitudes, especially on free elections.