Gen Z were said to ‘want a dictatorship’ - but a new poll has just cast doubt on that claim

Back at the end of January, a report from Channel 4 sparked widespread alarm: 52 per cent of Gen Z (that is, those currently aged between 13 and 27 years of age) think the UK would be a better place if a strong leader “who does not have to bother with parliament and elections” was in charge.

The stat ended up being widely reported as saying more than half of young people fancied a dictatorship in Britain.

Channel 4’s boss, Alex Mahon, said the survey results exposed some “deeply worrying issues”, including “clear evidence of disengagement from democracy”.

And of course, it's a wild time to be talking about dictators, what with US president Donald Trump refusing to use the word to describe Russian president Vladimir Putin, but being more than happy to label Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky as one (he isn't).

However, a new report has put the amount of 13 to 27-year-olds who actually want a dictatorship in the UK at a far less concerning percentage: just six per cent.

King’s College London’s Policy Institute, together with Focaldata, surveyed more than 2,000 members of Gen Z, and presented them with different versions of the question at the heart of the issue.

As a reminder, that was: “To what extent do you agree or disagree that the UK would be a better place if a stronger leader was in charge who does not have to bother with parliament and elections?”

The first experiment saw the academics put the second half of the question – after “in charge” – in bold and all caps – which resulted in just 28 per cent of Gen Z agreeing with the question.

The study authors said the percentage supports their hypothesis that people answering Channel 4’s survey only took the first half of the statement into account and skipped over the implications of the second part.

When the bold text and capitalisation was removed, and instead the words “strong leader” was replaced with the more direct word “dictator”, the percentage fell to 22 per cent.

And when the researchers asked further questions of these two groups, they were able to present a final statistic which is that “only six per cent of Gen Z actually agree that the UK would be a better place if a dictator was in charge, that that dictator should face no checks or control from MPs in parliament, and should avoid holding national elections”.

A bit more specific than Channel 4’s question, huh?

In fact, when the academics allowed for Gen Z respondents to explain what they were thinking when agreeing with any version of the statement, a number of them pointed to difficulties interpreting it.

One wrote: “I’m confused, I think the statement confused me. I think we should have elections, but parliament is a scam to me. It feels like they earn so much and don’t help the common folk. But we need representation for the country.”

A second said: “I believe the first half of the statement, in that we need someone strong and experienced, however elections and parliament should still be considered.”

Commenting on the findings, Professor Bobby Duffy, the Policy Institute’s director, criticised the “distraction of attention-grabbing figures” and instead called on people to “look carefully at what our younger generation actually believes”.

“The reality is that nothing like half of Gen Z actually support a dictatorship in the UK, in any meaningful sense.

“They have significant issues with how the political system has not delivered for them, but they’re not looking to tear it up and replace it with autocratic leadership, and exaggerating that sense can only add to division and risk encouraging that outcome.

“We do have serious issues with [the younger generation’s] faith in the system and our institutions, but mischaracterising these concerns only gets in the way of addressing them,” he said.

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