A big part of preserving a democracy hinges on managing the relationship between Capital and labor.
Political Economist Daron Acemoglu won a Nobel Prize last year for studying the difference between democracies that manage the relationship between labor and capital and authoritarian regimes that fail to do so.
If interested, check out his book "why nations fail" or any of his updated works.
I would argue that the best indicator we have for the health of our democracy is the steady decline of the labor share of income (I'll attach a link here later) - as that essentially translates to "our individual and collective ability to participate in our economic destinies"
Political Economist Daron Acemoglu won a Nobel Prize last year for studying the difference between democracies that manage the relationship between labor and capital and authoritarian regimes that fail to do so.
If interested, check out his book "why nations fail" or any of his updated works.