I have no doubt that people would like the government in my country a lot more if it wasn't for the conservative opposition working to drive hate against anything progressive that the government is actually achieving from time to time. Being gay was never illegal, but the law was antiquated and said that marriage is between a man and a woman. Literally just changing that so that two people of the same gender getting married would be possible, was an absolute media shitstorm. I wonder how it would go in China if they tried legalizing gay marriage now - there's simply no opposition party to campaign off it.

That's why I say that it's easier to have better satisfaction ratings when people have 0 choice. There's just no reason to sow division in the first place.

Liking the government doesn't imply having a democracy, though. And also thinking that you have a democratic country doesn't mean that you do live in one

It's not that China bad, it's more that China is good at creating great conditions for a majority of their citizens, but this doesn't imply that it's heaven on earth, still