While we could debate the possible biases of people outside the US, a much more interesting question is whether there is any support whatsoever for the idea tha

While we could debate the possible biases of people outside the US, a much more interesting question is whether there is any support whatsoever for the idea that the US is like Russia and China when it comes to freedom. It's an absurd comparison, and the purpose of citing the indexes is to show just how absurd it is, since they measure such things in absolute terms. A little bias isn't going to make the difference between "Full Democracy" (the most free in the Democracy Index) and "Authoritarian Regime" (the least free).