To keep it short the reason why some people are ok with authoritarianism is because most structures that we deal with on a daily basis are authoritarian.
Here is evidence that shows a significant amount of people are ok with authoritarianism:
This should be concerning.
And the thing is that it makes sense once you look at what are the most common systems that people interact with the most.
A clear example would be the Boss-Worker relationship. The boss creates a set of objectives/tasks for the worker and the worker sees them out. Rarely does the worker get the chance to set the higher level direction of what they are supposed to be doing with their time leaving them obedient to the boss and their demands.
Another example would be some Parent-Child relationships. Some parents treat their children as people that should show absolute respect towards them just because they are the parents not because they have something that is of value to the child (experience).
Even in the places where we do make democratic decisions those are usually made in ways that are supposed to be supplemental to authoritative decision making. An example would be how we don’t vote on decisions but instead how we vote on others to make decisions for us.
Once you add up all the experiences that someone has throughout their whole life you will see that most of them come into direct contact with authoritarian systems which means it makes that kind of way of thinking familiar and therefore acceptable.
Unlike democracy which is an abstract concept and something we only really experience from time to time.
If we want people to actually stop thinking authoritarianism is ok then we as a society are gonna have to stop using these kinds of systems / ways of thinking in our daily lives.
I agree with your sentiment, but disagree with your conclusion. We instead need to start having referendums on everything people think is worth one.
Edit: The downvotes and some of the comments on this comment are pretty ironic. Congrats fellas, you're confirming what OP says is true: sometimes people are ok with authoritarianism.
Yeah, Brexit worked out great.
For the record - this is the argument against democracy. And it's not so bad!
Democracy can do horrific things! It is prone to mistakes with things that can be fear-mongered, where there's a lot of money invested in grifting, and when the real reasons are sufficiently complicated that they don't fit on signs (or nobody is interested in doing the work to put them on signs).
Gang rape is democracy in action.
Hm, perhaps if the gang rape happened in a vacuum. In reality, though, there is likely an encompassing democratic society wherein the gang rape took place. Said democratic society most likely has laws that prohibit such an action from happening; therefore, since the gang rapers violated democratically passed laws, then they were acting in an undemocratic manner.
There exists a philosophical argument on whether democracy is a means to an end, or an end to a means. One could argue that, no matter the real outcome of a democracy, it is always the most moral for the people to have had a say in that outcome. A properly structured government needs to ensure adequate checks and balances are in place to minimize potential "negative" outcomes.