More citizens see Singapore as a full democracy, but also with ‘minor problems’: Asian Barometer Survey

SINGAPORE: A survey on political attitudes in the Asia-Pacific region found that more Singaporeans saw the country as a full democracy in 2023 compared to 2020.
Full democracies are nations in which basic freedoms and liberties are respected, with few problems in how democracy functions.
Results from the latest Asian Barometer Survey on democracy, governance and development, conducted by the National University of Singapore’s Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), were released on Friday (Sep 27).
The survey, which was conducted between September and November 2023, gathered responses from 1,003 Singapore citizens aged 21 and above. 
In a press release summarising the survey’s findings, IPS noted that democracy as a political system is “increasingly being viewed as suitable” for Singapore.
The Asian Barometer surveys since 2006 have shown that most citizens think Singapore is a democracy, but with “minor problems”. 
In 2023, 12.4 per cent said Singapore was a full democracy, compared to the 9.2 per cent in 2020.
Across the surveys conducted from 2010 to 2023, mean scores for each wave showed that respondents rated Singapore as being more democratic in 2023 compared to 10 years ago. 
Waves refer to distinct periods of time in which survey answers are collected from respondents.
IPS also conducted further analysis on factors influencing respondents’ impressions of democracy in Singapore in the past as compared to the present.
Respondents with lower educational qualifications, such as those with technical or secondary education, were more likely to think that Singapore was less democratic in 2023, IPS found. 
Meanwhile, those aged 35 and above were more likely to think there had been no change in the state of democracy.
Respondents who believed there was an equal distribution of power and resources in Singapore’s political system – one of the predictor or independent variables used in the analysis – were also more likely to think that there had been no change in the state of democracy between the past and last year.
To find out what respondents thought of democracy, they were asked to choose from four sets of statements on what the most essential characteristic of democracy was for them. 
One of the characteristics deemed to be essential about democracy among Singaporeans was that basic necessities, like food, clothes and shelter, were provided for all. 
On the other hand, there was less emphasis on political-civic rights as an essential attribute of democracy. This includes characteristics such as people being free to express their political views openly, or people having the freedom to take part in protests and demonstrations.
IPS also found that Singaporeans’ commitment to democracy remained constant and strong. 
In 2023, 72.2 per cent either strongly agreed or agreed with the statement “democracy may have its problems, but it is still the best form of government”.
More than 80 per cent of Singaporeans were also either satisfied or very satisfied with the way democracy had worked in Singapore over the past five waves of the Asian Barometer surveys. 
“There is strong belief democracy is suitable for Singapore, and strong expectation it will continue to ‘be democratic’ in 10 years’ time,” IPS found.
Meanwhile, although democracy generally takes a back seat when compared to economic development, the latest survey showed that more – 28.3 per cent – said they were equally important.
In comparison, only 8.2 per cent said they were equally important in the 2020 survey.
Singaporeans also demonstrated strong detachment from authoritarian scenarios. 
In response to a statement that parliament and elections should be replaced by a strong leader who makes decisions, 4.2 per cent said they strongly approved of this while 72.7 per cent either disapproved or strongly disapproved.
On whether only one political party should be allowed to stand for election and hold office, 3.4 per cent of the respondents strongly approved. 
Meanwhile, 72.9 per cent expressed disapproval or strong disapproval of this.
Additionally in 2023, 20.9 per cent of Singaporeans who responded thought that the current system of government worked fine and had no need to change. 
While this was a slight increase from the 16.8 per cent in 2020, it was a drop from the 22.6 per cent and 37.8 per cent in 2014 and 2010 respectively. 
Results from last year’s survey also showed that 58.6 per cent of the respondents thought the current system needed a minor change.
The archetypes were built on respondents’ sentiments, namely: The suitability of democracy for Singapore, their support for democracy as a system, and the performance of Singapore’s system of government. 
In general, Singaporean respondents were slightly more likely to have perceived China to have been good for Asia and Singapore when compared to the United States.
According to last year’s survey, 34.3 per cent said the US did much more good than harm or somewhat more good than harm, while 50.1 per cent said that this was the case for China.
Singaporean respondents also believed that China will have the most influence in Asia in 10 years’ time, with a 52.2 percentage point difference to a similar question on the United States’ influence in the future.
Upon further analysis to understand the factors that influenced respondents’ perceptions of Chinese influence and US influence on Singapore, only income level explained the difference in responses, said IPS. 
Despite that, it was found that Singaporeans with higher-income backgrounds were more likely to have the same view towards each country in terms of its influence.
Researchers also compared the results from Singaporean respondents with those from three other alternative political regimes – Taiwan, Vietnam and the Philippines. 
Compared to those in Taiwan, Vietnam and the Philippines who favoured the US more, Singaporeans were more neutral between the two powers.
Factors such as age, gender, education, political interest and their attachment to authoritarianism helped explain how they viewed the quality of each country’s influence, said IPS. 
For example, in the Philippines, those aged 56 and above felt that the US had a more positive influence than China.
In Taiwan, women were split in terms of which superpower they favoured. 
Similar to Singapore, Vietnamese respondents in the higher income bracket as well as those with higher political interest were more likely to feel that US influence and Chinese influence were the same. 
In conducting the latest survey, IPS said that respondents could self-administer their choices on tablets in the presence of the interviewers. 
Previously, interviewers would read out questions to respondents and keyed in their answers into tablets. Interviewers could respond to questions respondents might have and they also put “peer pressure” on respondents to give definitive answers, said IPS. 
This change in the way data is collected led to a higher proportion of respondents choosing the “Don’t understand/Don’t know/Can’t choose/Decline to answer” options.
This was especially the case for questions on international relations.
“There is a statistically significant relationship between the way people completed the survey and this section of the survey,” said IPS. 
Those completing the questions on their own were more likely to choose the “Don’t understand/Don’t know/Can’t choose/Decline to answer” options. 
These responses were not taken into account in calculating mean scores for the responses, IPS noted.