Why Voters Who Value Democracy Participate in Democratic Backsliding

• In Event: Attitudes towards, and Support for, Democracy: Global Perspectives

Abstract

Around the world, citizens are voting away the democracies they claim to cherish. In this paper, we present evidence that this behavior is driven in part by the belief that their opponents will undermine democracy first. In an observational study (N=1,973), we find that US partisans are willing to subvert democratic norms to the extent that they believe opposing partisans are willing to do the same. In experimental studies (N=2,543, N=1,848), we reveal to partisans that their opponents are more committed to democratic norms than they think. As a result, partisans become more committed to upholding democratic norms themselves, and become less willing to vote for candidates who break these norms. The findings suggest that aspiring autocrats may instigate democratic backsliding by accusing their opponents of subverting democracy, and that we can foster democratic stability by informing partisans about the other side’s commitments to democracy. (The intervention featured in this paper had the largest effect on lowering anti-democratic attitudes in Stanford's "Strengthening Democracy Challenge.")

Authors

• Alia Braley, University of California, Berkeley

• Gabriel Lenz, UC Berkeley

• Dhaval Adjodah, MIT

• Hossein Rahnama, MIT

• Alex Pentland, MIT