Turning Away from Democracy? Democratic Antipathy and Support for Undemocratic Practices Among Young Australians

Democracy is not a static achievement; it requires constant renewal. This renewal is fundamentally a social process, demanding that each new generation actively “buys in” to the system’s core norms and principles. As some scholars soberly remind us, “democracy without democrats is not sustainable” (Wuttke et al., 2022). This intergenerational commitment has long been taken for granted in Australia, but today, this very process of democratic renewal faces a profound challenge.

Indeed, it is no longer clear that younger generations support the democratic system with the same conviction as their predecessors. This raises the central puzzle of this report: do young people truly support democracy, or are they increasingly turning towards undemocratic alternatives? Answering this question is critical to understanding and navigating the future of democratic renewal in Australia.

The Jeff Bleich Centre for Democracy and Disruptive Technologies is committed to confronting this puzzle head-on. In late 2024, we surveyed over 1,000 Australians, revealing a stark reality: only 55.7% of young Australians aged 18 to 29 believe democracy is the best form of government. This figure is not a statistical anomaly; it is an alarm bell for Australia’s democratic stability, especially when compared to the 87.97% of Australians aged 70 and over who hold the same belief.

This report provides a more in-depth look at the survey data to determine whether young people’s democratic disconnect represents healthy “critical citizenship” (a dissatisfaction with performance) or a more dangerous “democratic antipathy” (a genuine erosion of commitment). We believe, in light of the results of the survey, that there is a clear shift towards antipathy among young Australians, revealing a generation increasingly tolerant of undemocratic alternatives.