Flagship Report
2021 Pulse of Democracy
Drawing on the 9th wave of the AmericasBarometer survey — fielded amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and for the first time via phone and online surveys — the 2021 Pulse of Democracy examines how people across the Americas view democracy, elections, corruption, crime, and gender-based violence.
Key Findings
- Support for democracy held steady through the pandemic, but tolerance for centralized power grew. Support for democracy has not returned to the levels recorded a decade ago. While citizens are less tolerant of military takeovers than they used to be, they've become considerably more willing to tolerate an executive who rules without the legislature in a crisis.
- Trust in elections recovered modestly but remains low overall. Trust in elections rose from 38% in 2018/19 to 42% in 2021, though most people still express low confidence in their electoral systems, and views on election integrity vary widely across countries.
- Crime victimization declined during the pandemic, but concerns about corruption persisted. More than three in five people believe that most or all politicians are corrupt, and bribe solicitation by public officials increased compared with 2018/19, even as crime victimization and neighborhood insecurity both fell.
2021 By the Numbers
- 64,362 interviews across 22 countries
- 324 unique survey questions
- 1,047 trained interviewers
- 21 local firm trainings totaling 325 training hours
As of 2021
9 survey · 34 countries surveyed · 375,698 cumulative interviews since 2004
About the AmericasBarometer
Learn how the survey is designed, fielded, and rigorously quality-checked at every stage.
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Browse Other Reports
Find country-specific and year-by-year reports from every AmericasBarometer survey round.