Unfit to Serve: Perceptions of Party System Incompetence & its Undermining Effect

• In Event: Voters and Parties: Explorations of Polarization & Competence using CSES

Abstract

We examine perceptions of a party system incompetence—no party is considered competent to solve an urgent problem—among electorates in advanced democracies. We theorize that once a third of an electorate perceives a competence void, it becomes more difficult for voters to “vote the rascals out” and the opposition “in” on the basis of policies. Using an expanded Comparative Studies of Electoral Systems data set, we find that, on average, about one-quarter of publics in advanced democracies believe that neither governing nor parliamentary opposition parties can solve urgent problems. Additionally, for about half of the 28 country-elections examined, the proportion of predicted incompetence attributions is so high that it may undermine policy-based accountability and representation. We finally show that incompetence attributions are associated with voters’ evaluations of accountability representation.

Authors

• Robert Rohrschneider, University of Kansas

• Rudiger Schmitt-Beck, University of Mannheim