Neither Trump nor Biden will break democracy. Look to Watergate scandal for proof.

Is American democracy nearing its end? A 2023 Gallup survey revealed there is a new all-time low for American trust in democracy, with only 28% of respondents claiming that they are satisfied with the way democracy is working in the United States.

This is a very concerning metric, especially during a presidential election year.

Our country’s democracy has weathered many storms throughout its history. One of the darkest was the Watergate scandal. However, even at the outset of Watergate, the American Public trusted the government more than they do today. According to the Pew Research Center, 36% of Americans trusted the government in 1974.

In 1973, Americans were concerned that democracy might not stop Richard Nixon. He had betrayed the trust of the American People and was deliberately interfering with the investigation of Watergate. In what’s now known as the “Saturday Night Massacre,” Nixon fired special prosecutor, Archibald Cox, for investigating the scandal.

Nixon’s attorney general and deputy attorney general resigned instead of accepting Nixon’s order to fire Cox.

In the 1970s, Americans had real reasons to distrust democracy. They witnessed Nixon blatantly abuse his presidential powers.

In 2024, American distrust in democracy breaks along partisan lines. When Donald Trump was president, Democrats declared that he was the “Greatest Threat to Democracy.” In contrast, when Joe Biden was elected president, Republicans claimed that there was widespread voter fraud that stole the election.

There is hope, though. Our democracy survived Watergate. It survived President Trump’s first term. It has also almost survived President Biden’s first term. And it will survive Trump's or Biden’s second term.

Our country’s outlook on democracy was bleak following the resignation of President Nixon; however, it would only be a little while longer before another man would come along and unite the country with the revived spirit of American Idealism.

This man was Ronald Reagan. President Reagan’s 1984 re-election was historic, and his landslide victory proved that he had united the country. No president since has won an election by the same margins.

Reagan’s idealistic vision of American identity resonated with those who had forgotten what made the country so great in the first place. He rebuilt the trust in government that had been dismantled during Nixon’s presidency. Reagan laid out his roadmap for rebuilding trust in his 1980 RNC Acceptance Speech:

“I ask you not simply to 'Trust me,' but to trust your values — our values — and to hold me responsible for living up to them. I ask you to trust that American spirit which knows no ethnic, religious, social, political, regional, or economic boundaries; the spirit that burned with zeal in the hearts of millions of immigrants from every corner of the Earth who came here in search of freedom.”

It was this binding American spirit that brought the country together in 1981 when President Reagan was nearly assassinated. If the same were to happen to President Biden or Trump today, half the country would celebrate, and that is unacceptable.

Our democracy has withstood many scandals throughout its history, and freedom remains. Americans experienced the betrayal of their trust by Nixon in the 1970s, and by the 1980s, the American Dream was back.

Neither Biden nor Trump will unite our country in 2024. Certainly, neither will do irreparable damage to our democracy either.

If we begin prioritizing our shared freedoms today, rather than our differences, we may once again experience the same unity exemplified in Reagan’s America.

Garrett Henson is from Valley Falls, and serves as the chairman of the Kansas Federation of College Republicans.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Neither Trump nor Biden will end democracy; Watergate scandal is proof