Throughout American history, the ideal of multiracial democracy has been contested, oscillating between moments of expansion and retrenchment. The 2024 presidential election—marked by the reemergence of Donald Trump and widespread concerns about democratic backsliding—offers a critical setting to examine whether citizens’ democratic commitments are stable or malleable under conditions of political and racial polarization. This paper advances the study of public opinion on democracy by examining how Americans define and perceive democracy itself—both as a minimal, procedural ideal and as a multiracial project—across racial groups and over time. Leveraging a three-wave panel survey of Black and White Americans fielded before the 2024 election, roughly 100 days after, and again at 200 days, the study traces how citizens’ conceptions of democracy and their support for it evolve in response to partisan and racial dynamics. The analysis focuses on support for electoral democracy, as well as commitments to multiracial democracy, including descriptive representation, policing, voting rights, and immigration enforcement. By tracing how support for electoral and multiracial democracy shifts over time and varies across racial and partisan groups, the project elucidates how Americans understand and perceive democracy in a hyperpolarized era.