--- title: Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton Voters Divided on Democracy description: Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton supporters have widely different views on what they think is important for a “strong democracy” to function canonical: https://time.com/4548483/donald-trump-hilary-clinton-strong-democracy/ author: Melissa Chan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-27T20:56:09.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T10:20:20.712Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton Voters Divided What Makes Democracy Strong og:description: With stark differences between the two groups og:url: https://time.com/4548483/donald-trump-hilary-clinton-strong-democracy/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdeb4aee3aa40b6dc/6988abe6e20a8744f4a92fd4/donald-trump-hillary-clinton.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: donald-trump-hillary-clinton og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump and Hilary Clinton Voters Divided What Makes Democracy Strong twitter:description: With stark differences between the two groups twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdeb4aee3aa40b6dc/6988abe6e20a8744f4a92fd4/donald-trump-hillary-clinton.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton Supporters Are Divided Over What Makes a 'Strong Democracy'  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Oct 27, 2016 8:56 PM UTC  Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton during the presidential debate at Hofstra University on Sept. 26, 2016 in Hempstead, New York. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton during the presidential debate at Hofstra University on Sept. 26, 2016 in Hempstead, New York.Spencer Platt—2016 Getty Images  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Oct 27, 2016 8:56 PM UTC [Donald Trump](http://time.com/4546864/donald-trump-hotel-dc-transcript/) and [Hillary Clinton](http://time.com/4546942/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-lead-poll/) supporters have widely different views on what they think is important for a “strong democracy” to function properly, [according to a new poll.](http://www.people-press.org/2016/10/27/5-confidence-in-election-views-of-u-s-democracy/?utm%5Fcontent=buffer64a4b&utm%5Fmedium=social&utm%5Fsource=twitter.com&utm%5Fcampaign=buffer) While 83% of people who plan to vote for Clinton believe it’s key for the losing presidential hopeful to “recognize the legitimacy” of the winning candidate, only 48% of Trump supporters think that is “very important” to maintain a strong democracy, a Pew Research Center poll shows. In the same vein, when asked whether it’s important for news organizations to be free to criticize candidates, 72% of Clinton voters said yes but only 49% of Trump voters agreed. More Clinton supporters—86%—also said it’s important for people to have the right to protest without violence. Sixty-nine percent of Trump supporters said that was very important. The poll also found that almost an equal percentage of supporters of both major party candidates (93% of Clinton voters and 91% of Trump voters) agree that open and fair elections are very important to maintaining a strong democracy. The Pew Research poll was conducted between Oct. 20 and Oct. 25 and surveyed 2,583 adults across the country. It has a margin of error of +/- 2.2%. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4548483/donald-trump-hilary-clinton-strong-democracy/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4548483/donald-trump-hilary-clinton-strong-democracy/"},"headline":"Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton Supporters Are Divided Over What Makes a 'Strong Democracy'","datePublished":"2016-10-27T20:56:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T10:20:20.712Z","description":"Most Trump supporters don't think it's very important for the losing candidate to recognize the legitimacy of the winning one","url":"https://time.com/4548483/donald-trump-hilary-clinton-strong-democracy/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdeb4aee3aa40b6dc/6988abe6e20a8744f4a92fd4/donald-trump-hillary-clinton.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdeb4aee3aa40b6dc/6988abe6e20a8744f4a92fd4/donald-trump-hillary-clinton.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"donald-trump-hillary-clinton","caption":"Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton during the presidential debate at Hofstra University on Sept. 26, 2016 in Hempstead, New York.","creditText":"Spencer Platt—2016 Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4548483/donald-trump-hilary-clinton-strong-democracy/","name":"Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton Supporters Are Divided Over What Makes a 'Strong Democracy'"}}]}] ```