Generations of political scientists seek to understand the relationship between citizens' democratic values and democratic stability. The key premise of this research tradition is that democratic societies live on a "social consensus'' over a set of democratic values; a democratic norm. Yet, until today scholarship has neither carefully theorized the role of nor measured this social consensus. Building on research in social psychology, we conceptualize democratic norms as social norms: citizens may think that most people in democracies support its institutions (descriptive norm) and also that one ought to do so (injunctive norm). We then measure these perceptions in the United States – and another 13 countries this winter – using nationally representative surveys. We find that citizens have strong perception of social democratic norms; however, mostly on abstract forms of support. We also showcase that perceptions of others are stable to social desirability pressures while individual preferences for democracies are driven by such pressures using a unique survey experimental design. Our research has important implications for research on democracy showcasing the role social norms play to craft democratic support in our societies.