Democracy Index 2021

You can download it here. The US went down one place to 26th overall and remains in the 'flawed democracy' category. Political participation went up in 2020 driven by the intense polarization created by Twitler's Presiduncy, so that boded well for our democracy. However the very word 'polarization' indicates that both sides are somehow equivalent, whereas on the Repugnacon side:

"The run-up to the change of administrations in late January 2021 was uncharacteristically tumultuous, marked by a riot at the US Capitol and attempts by the outgoing president, Donald Trump, and several Republican lawmakers to overturn the election results. [...] Looking ahead, new threats could emerge and undermine the country’s political institutions. According to the Brennan Center for Justice, a non-partisan think tank, at least 19 states passed laws in 2021 that restrict voting access. 'Gerrymandering,' whereby voting district boundaries are intentionally drawn along partisan lines, poses an additional risk to increasing the US’s democratic deficit."

On the Democratic side, there were no riots, none tried to overturn the election, and while some Dem controlled States are indeed gerrymandering to compete with Repugs, none of them are restricting voter access with lies: They are instead trying to increase it. In fact, in their proposed voting rights legislation they want to end gerrymandering by instituting neutral commissions to draw districts. And there are several provisions to increase voting access and accountability. The Repugnacons fought all of that, so instead of polarization we should more accurately frame it as defending democracy against fascism.

The Index points to some of what I'm saying in showing the political differences on elections and healthcare. E.g.: "Only 55% of Americans believe that Mr Biden legitimately won the 2020 election, despite no evidence of widespread voter fraud." On the vaccine: "Over a quarter of the US adult population still yet to receive a full course of vaccination." But they failed to mention that this is due to the fraudulent misinformation by one Party. They also noted that "nearly 20 states enacting more than 100 new abortion restrictions," but again not framing that as a direct assault on established law in Roe v. Wade and women's rights and healthcare. And of course the Index was written before all of the Repug book banning.