Monday Briefing: A majority of U.S. voters say democracy is under threat

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October 28, 2024

	By Gaya Gupta

Good morning. We’re covering American democracy and Japan’s parliamentary elections.

Plus, a long-lost Chopin waltz.

June Kim

Americans express deep concern for their democracy

Nearly half of all U.S. voters believe that American democracy does not do a good job of representing ordinary people, according to a new New York Times/Siena College poll.

Three-quarters of voters in the U.S. say that democracy is under threat — though their perception of those threats varies widely based on partisan leanings — and a majority of voters believe that the country is plagued by corruption.

The eroding faith in the nearly 250-year-old American system of government follows four years of unparalleled challenges: a violent riot in an attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election; the criminal conviction of Donald Trump; and his continued insistence that the democratic process is rigged.

Those events, colliding with stubborn inflation, divisive culture wars and geopolitical crises, have voters exasperated with American politics and a government that they believe has failed to serve them at the most basic level. Such frustrations have left 58 percent of voters believing that the nation’s financial and political systems need major changes or a complete overhaul.

More on the U.S. election Election Day is Nov. 5. A memo circulating in Trump’s orbit says that if elected he should use private firms to check appointees’ backgrounds and give them access to classified secrets. Kamala Harris has many celebrities campaigning for her. It has uncorked complicated feelings for Trump and his supporters. The rise of Harris, the tenacious child of high-achieving immigrants, is atypical. But her story is also distinctly American. Do you have questions about the election? Send them to us, and we’ll find the answers.

Officials count ballots for Japan’s general election in Tokyo on Sunday. Richard A. Brooks/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Japan’s Liberal Democrats lost its majority

Japan’s governing party lost its majority in parliamentary elections yesterday, as voters emphatically rejected the status quo, throwing Japanese politics into their most uncertain period in years.

The polls also showed that the party, the Liberal Democrats, was unable to eke out a majority even in combination with its traditional coalition partner, Komeito, forcing it to consider whether it could expand its coalition to retain power or whether a group of opposition parties could come together to form a government.

For more than a decade, elections in Japan had taken on a rubber-stamp quality for the Liberal Democrats, a conservative party that has governed Japan for all but four years since 1955. This time, a wearied public angered by a long-simmering political finance scandal, rising inflation and the burdens of raising families inflicted a humiliating blow to the party just one month after it anointed Shigeru Ishiba as the new prime minister.

A billboard in Tehran on Sunday. Arash Khamooshi for The New York Times

Iran stresses its right to retaliate after Israel’s attack

Over the weekend, questions swirled about how Iran would respond to Israel’s attacks on Saturday, which destroyed air-defense systems set up to protect important energy sites but avoided the facilities themselves. Yesterday, Iran’s leaders said that they had a right to respond to the attack but appeared to take a measured tone, which could help ease concerns about all-out war between the region’s largest militaries.

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said that the retaliatory attack on Iran had achieved all of its objectives, as analysts questioned how his government might leverage its recent military gains diplomatically. Tehran now must decide whether to up the ante. Experts worry about the long-term possibility that Iran will see a nuclear weapon as its only defense.

Peace talks: President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi of Egypt said yesterday his country presented a new cease-fire proposal to end the war between Israel and Hamas.

Gaza: Israeli strikes on a residential block in Beit Lahia, a town in the north, killed and wounded dozens of people on Saturday night, Gazan officials said.

Lebanon: Eight people were killed and 25 wounded in an Israeli strike on the southern coastal city of Sidon, according to the Lebanese health ministry.

The Georgian Dream party supporters celebrate in Tbilisi after winning the election. David Mdzinarishvili/EPA, via Shutterstock

Sports

Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Making laddu in Kolkata, India. Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters

For centuries, temples in India have given laddu, a ball-shaped sweet, to devotees. But last month, a newly elected Hindu politician accused his predecessor, a Christian, of allowing one temple’s laddu to be adulterated with other animal fats, calling into question the sanctity of the temple itself. It’s one of several cases that exemplify how India’s food cultures have become increasingly politicized amid the rise of Hindu nationalism.

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That manuscript is also embellished with a doodle by Chopin, who liked to draw. The Morgan Library & Museum, Robert Owen Lehman Collection on deposit

A Chopin waltz, unearthed after 200 years

Deep in the vault of the Morgan Library & Museum in Manhattan on a late-spring day, the curator Robinson McClellan was sorting through a collection of cultural memorabilia. He came across a pockmarked musical scrap the size of an index card with a tiny notation and a conspicuous name: Chopin.

After testing the manuscript’s paper and ink, analyzing its handwriting and musical style and consulting outside experts, the Morgan has come to a momentous conclusion: The work is likely an unknown waltz by Frédéric Chopin, the great fantasist of the Romantic era, the first such discovery in more than half a century.

Read more — and listen to the pianist Lang Lang play the waltz — here.

Armando Rafael for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Samantha Seneviratne.

Cook: This modern take on badam burfi, the classic South Asian almond confection, layers the it over tart, Barbie-pink, ruby chocolate in bark form.

Inspire: These seven podcasts spotlight tips from experts and interviews with casual hobbyists that may move you to pick up a new pastime.

Clean: You should swap out your towels every few days. Here are the best ways to keep them fresh and clean.

Play: Spelling Bee, the Mini Crossword, Wordle and Sudoku. Find all our games here.

That’s it for today. See you tomorrow. — Gaya

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