Support for democracy in the United States, once thought to be solid, has now been shown to be somewhat shaky. One of the most concerning aspects of this declining attachment to democracy is a marked age gap, with younger Americans less supportive of democracy than their older compatriots. Using age-period-cohort analysis of 12 national surveys collected between 1995 and 2019, we show that this age gap is largely a function of a long-term generational decline in support for democracy, with little evidence of an independent life-cycle effect apparent. The combination of generational decline without a positive and counterbalancing life-cycle effect offers a sober prognosis of how support for democracy in the United States might look in the future.

中文翻译：

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美国公众对民主的支持逐代下降。

美国对民主的支持一度被认为是稳固的，但现在已被证明有些不稳定。这种对民主的热爱下降最令人担忧的方面之一是明显的年龄差距，年轻的美国人比年长的同胞更不支持民主。通过对 1995 年至 2019 年间收集的 12 项全国调查进行年龄阶段队列分析，我们发现这种年龄差距很大程度上是民主支持率长期下降的结果，几乎没有证据表明存在明显的独立生命周期效应。代际衰退与积极且平衡的生命周期效应相结合，为美国未来对民主的支持情况提供了清醒的预测。