The chattering classes in the West have completely taken their focus off raising living standards in favour of a number of other ideological goals. Energy and industrial policies across multiple democratic countries are in an absolute shambles to the point where we're being challenged by Russia of all countries. Over the past decades the US has adopted a strategy of printing money which is a very bad sign in a leading economic power.
I can see why people would be dissatisfied by democracy right now; I certainly am. The leadership classes aren't focused on prosperity. I hope we stick with it though, it is still a better approach than the alternatives.
Robert A. Heinlein
In the U.S. (from what I've seen - I'm envious of those with commanding knowledge of the situation) there are occasional elections with very limited, pre-chosen slates of candidates that most people don't know personally. The last time I tried to contact my district city councilperson (albeit in a fairly large city), a secretary answered my email.
There's also the assumption (not to deny the stated correlation) that satisfaction is tied to economic welfare. My opinion is that while this is necessary, it's hardly sufficient, and a major issue is not only economic inequality but a general inequality in opportunities to have any sort of influence in societal operations. I think it would be better if more people could be big fishes in little ponds. The professional class that makes up the media is defacto big fish and has a bias and blind spots to this.
Furthermore, I believe a better description of what exists in the U.S. at least is that we have a representative oligarchy - elected officials primarily representing and serving rich business interests.
Please understand that this is not really a moral judgement on my part - it seems entirely predictable and probably unavoidable for this to happen in an age of breathtaking material and technological abundance coupled with confusion about larger social questions.