One in five Britons aged 18-45 prefer unelected leaders to democracy, poll finds

LONDON: One in five generation Z and millennial Britons prefer strong leaders without elections to democracy, and voters overall are feeling downbeat about politics, a report has found.

The polling, due to be published next week as part of the FGS Global Radar report, found that overall 14 percent of people agreed with the statement: “The best system for running a country effectively is a strong leader who doesn’t have to bother with elections,” rather than the alternative: “The best system for running a country effectively is democracy.”

That rose to 21 percent of people aged between 18 and 45, who answered that the best system was a strong leader without elections. In contrast, only 8 percent of people over 55 preferred that system to democracy.

The report’s findings, that a sizeable minority of under-45s are unconvinced by the need for elections, come as some electorates have been opting for populist leaders, such as Donald Trump, through the ballot box, and the billionaire Elon Musk has been wielding power over public debate by shaping what is seen on his social media platform X.

Last week, the FT reported that Musk, who has been appointed by Trump to help overhaul the public sector, had privately discussed with allies how Keir Starmer could be removed as UK prime minister before the next general election, in a move that would constitute an intervention into British democracy.