Group Reclassification Theory: How Populist Appeals Undermine Democracy

• In Event: Parties, Populism, and Politics

Abstract

Do populist appeals from elites increase support for undermining democracy at the individual level? There is a lack of survey experimentation directly assessing whether populist appeals can increase the mass public's support for violations of democratic principles and, if so, how. This paper addresses this theoretical and empirical gap in the literature by presenting and testing the Group Reclassification Theory (GRT) of populism. Building on prior research, GRT posits that populist appeals operate partly through in-group legitimization and out-group delegitimization, thereby recasting public beliefs and preferences to support democratic erosion. Using a set of online survey experiments, this paper shows that populist appeals increase support for violations of democratic principles while strengthening electoral support for a populist candidate. Mechanism analysis demonstrates these effects may partly operate through in-group legitimization and out-group delegitimization, respectively, providing suggestive evidence for GRT.

Author

• Paul Lendway, Yale University