I have heard about the 3.5 % rule. I think of it more as the 3.5% guideline. Wikipedia has an article here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3.5%25_rule#In_protests
From that page:
The 3.5% rule is a concept in political science that states that when 3.5% of the population of a country protests nonviolently against an authoritarian government, that government is likely to fall from power. The rule was formulated by Erica Chenoweth in 2013. It arose out of insights originally published by political scientist Mark Lichbach in 1995 in his book The Rebel's Dilemma: Economics, Cognition, and Society.
Further down is this line:
They also demonstrated that nonviolent movements tended to precede the development of more democratic regimes than did violent movements.
The entire article merits reading. Here are a few more places to check.
https://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/car ... ng-35-rule
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/2019 ... -the-world
https://ladylibertie.substack.com/p/the ... idea-heres
Obviously, it is not certain, but it helps give hope to our protest marches. If you are worried about the fate of democracy, as I certainly am, please pick a protest near you and join. If you possibly can, join every week.