Democracy SMART-D Requirements Details — Trust and Legitimacy Values-Based V2

Purpose: Connect public legitimacy requirements to approved display values from public trust and institutional confidence sources.

Source: metrics_current.json generated at 2026-05-15T13:45:42Z. Public display is approved where shown, but scoring, issue grades, member grades, report cards, rollups, leaderboards, and action tools remain disabled.

Color Rule

Red text = bad current value, bad trend, missing critical data, or unfavorable gap. Green text = favorable value or improving trend. Amber text = context-dependent, incomplete, or source-method review needed. Neutral/gray text = descriptive value that is not inherently good or bad.

SMART-D Requirements Matrix

Requirement	Metric / Measurement	Top Countries / Sources	Value to the American People	Gap / Target / Timeframe
Requirement ID: DEM-MIS-002 Category: Trust and Legitimacy / Public Confidence Lead agency/component: Congress, Executive Branch, Judiciary, oversight bodies, public evidence sources Requirement: The democratic system shall maintain public legitimacy by earning measurable public trust through lawful, transparent, accountable, and effective governance. Distinctness test: One public outcome: citizens have justified confidence in democratic institutions. Status: Public-display approved / scoring disabled	Metric: Public trust in federal government Unit: percent Period: 2025 Current value: 17% Current trend: Trend not yet approved in metrics JSON; compare against prior source period during source-method review. Trend basis: Current source date: 2025-12-04; prior-period comparison required for trend approval. Data source: source link Automation feasibility: Medium to high. Source is structured or repeatable, but field mapping, source vintage, and interpretation require reviewer validation.	Comparable practice / metric: OECD and peer-democracy public trust measures Comparable value: To be selected during comparator review. Comparable trend: Comparator trend not yet selected. Source link: source link Reviewer caution: Public-trust comparators measure perception and context, not direct proof of government performance.	Public value: Public trust supports voluntary compliance, peaceful transitions, institutional legitimacy, and democratic stability. Legal / civil-liberty guardrail: Survey-based trust metrics measure public perception, not proof of wrongdoing by any individual official.	Target: Original requirement target: 70% trust in core institutions Gap: Pending target approval and trend/source-method review. Timeframe: Annual or periodic survey review. Target note: Targets should be treated as aspiration and trend context until scoring methodology is approved.
Requirement ID: DEM-MIS-002 Category: Trust and Legitimacy / Public Confidence Lead agency/component: Congress, Executive Branch, Judiciary, oversight bodies, public evidence sources Requirement: The democratic system shall maintain public legitimacy by earning measurable public trust through lawful, transparent, accountable, and effective governance. Distinctness test: One public outcome: citizens have justified confidence in democratic institutions. Status: Public-display approved / scoring disabled	Metric: Public view of Congress Unit: percent Period: 2025 Current value: 34% Current trend: Trend not yet approved in metrics JSON; compare against prior source period during source-method review. Trend basis: Current source date: 2025-04-23; prior-period comparison required for trend approval. Data source: source link Automation feasibility: Medium to high. Source is structured or repeatable, but field mapping, source vintage, and interpretation require reviewer validation.	Comparable practice / metric: OECD and peer-democracy public trust measures Comparable value: To be selected during comparator review. Comparable trend: Comparator trend not yet selected. Source link: source link Reviewer caution: Public-trust comparators measure perception and context, not direct proof of government performance.	Public value: Public trust supports voluntary compliance, peaceful transitions, institutional legitimacy, and democratic stability. Legal / civil-liberty guardrail: Survey-based trust metrics measure public perception, not proof of wrongdoing by any individual official.	Target: Original requirement target: 65% trust in Congress Gap: Pending target approval and trend/source-method review. Timeframe: Annual or periodic survey review. Target note: Targets should be treated as aspiration and trend context until scoring methodology is approved.

Key Reviewer Findings

This page uses real values from the Democracy metrics JSON rather than placeholder candidate values.
Scoring remains disabled. These rows support requirement and metric review only.
Current trend fields still require source-method review because the JSON provides current display values but not approved prior-period trend calculations.
Comparator fields remain reviewer-selected where the metric is a U.S. internal control or where international comparison would be misleading.

Recommended Next Step

Review whether each metric directly measures the stated requirement. If yes, promote it to the detailed SMART-D baseline; if not, revise the requirement, metric, or mapping before scoring is considered.