Half of Americans think the United States is in “real danger of becoming a nondemocratic, authoritarian country.”

Half of Americans think the United States is in “real danger of becoming a nondemocratic, authoritarian country.”A majority, 55 percent, see democracy as “weak” – and 68 percent believe it is “getting weaker.” Eight in 10 Americans say they are either “very” or “somewhat” concerned about the condition of democracy here.

These are among the sobering results of a major bipartisan pollpublished Tuesday that was commissioned by the George W. Bush Institute, the University of Pennsylvania’s Biden Center and Freedom House, which tracks the vitality of democracies around the world. The three groups have partnered to create the Democracy Project, with the goal of monitoring the health of the American system.

“We hope this work can be a step toward restoring faith in democracy and democratic institutions,” Bush said in a statement.