Observation
A large majority of Australians (72%) see democracy as preferable to any other kind of government, remaining near a record high in 2022 (74%). The number who say ‘in some circumstances, a non-democratic government can be preferable’ remained steady at 18%. Fewer than one in ten Australians (9%) continue to say ‘it doesn’t matter what kind of government we have’.
A longstanding age gap in answers to this question has widened slightly again over the past two years. Younger Australians aged 18–44 (65%) are less likely than older Australians aged over 45 (79%) to say democracy is preferable to any other kind of government — a 14-point gap that has widened by five points since 2022.