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Political Science faculty look at the essential principles for democracy

www.brightlinewatch.org

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A survey of U.S. political science faculty a month into Donald Trump's presidency shows that fraud-free elections tops a list of 19 principles most essential to democracy, as do free speech and a free press.

Professors at Dartmouth College, the University of Rochester and Yale University collaborated on the Bright Line Watch survey to get an expert reading on the status of democratic practices and potential threats to American democracy.

They surveyed 9,820 professors at over 500 U.S. institutions by email Feb. 13-19, and received 1,571 responses.

Ranked as least essential is that politicians campaign without criticism of their opponents' loyalty or patriotism.

Dartmouth professor John Carey says the group's motivation was impatience with many news articles since Trump's victory that suggested "the sky is falling."

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