Particularly striking,recent polls find that 18-34 year old Australians are the least likely age group to favour breaking from the Crown. This provides a clue that hesitation about becoming a republic is not primarily a matter of cultural traditionalism. In Britain,many people feel not only deep affection for the Queen but also identification with the monarchy’s traditions,a feeling cultivated by a royal media machine that keeps the institution continually visible in public life.
Because the monarchy sustains a by-gone image of the UK as globally powerful and nationally unified,older Brits are muchmore likely than younger ones to support keeping it. While such feelings also exist in Australia,anti-republicanism is more often based on a pragmatic fear of the possible outcomes of alternative modes of government.
Australians have long tended to view our politics in relation to the US. Since the last referendum on a republic in 1999,Australians have watched as US Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump were ridiculed around the world and as the US Congress became hyper-polarised. The Capitol riot of January 6,2021 and the ongoing movement to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election have further underscored America’s democratic woes.
For some Australians,the social division and political dysfunction plaguing the US may be reason enough to steer clear of the prospect of an Australian president. Compared to,for instance,the constitutional monarchies of Scandinavia,the US republic seems like a basket case.
While concern about a US-style republic is understandable,it is important to keep in mind the unique underlying causes of America’s problems. For example,the US Constitution requires that the President be appointed through an Electoral College,a system that allowed both George W. Bush and Donald Trump to claim the office while losing the national popular vote.
The Constitution invites legislatures in individual states to draw their own electoral districts,which encourages the “gerrymandering” of districts in a party’s favour and thereby facilitates minority rule. States also have wide scope to determine voting eligibility,which has led to the disenfranchisement of many people with criminal records and of those who lack specific forms of ID or a stable address.