Polarised elections do not erode support for the basic principles of democracy, finds study of 30 countries. Winning voters do not usually support leaders who “take revenge”, and losers continue to accept the majority’s right to govern, provided that minority rights are protected.

Polarised elections do not erode support for the basic principles of democracy

A study led by UAB and UOC researchers examined the impact of 35 elections held in 30 different countries. According to the study, election results affect voters’ satisfaction with democracy, but not their support for anti-democratic measures.

The health of liberal democracies has been the focus of interest for political science for some time, against a global backdrop marked by the rise of political polarisation and tense incidents like those that took place in the United States in 2021 and Brazil in 2023. A recent study involving the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) has examined whether winning or losing a polarised election has an impact on citizens’ satisfaction with democracy and their support for its basic rules. The results of the research, published in the journal Comparative Political Studies, suggest that citizens’ perceptions of the democratic system are surprisingly resilient.

The study shows that even in highly polarised environments, winning voters do not usually support leaders who “take revenge”, and losers continue to accept the majority’s right to govern, provided that minority rights are protected. There are differences between winners and losers in these areas, but they are statistically very small when compared to the decline in satisfaction with democracy. This suggests that there is a bedrock of public support that contributes to maintaining democratic institutions, even in politically tense environments.

These results therefore provide fresh evidence on the role of citizens in the quality of democracy. Most of the previous academic literature had focused on “satisfaction with democracy”, an indicator that usually reflects whether the individual is happy with how the system works, or with the current government. This study confirms that winning voters are consistently more satisfied than losers, and that this difference increases as affective polarisation increases. “In contrast, if there is a difference between winners and losers in terms of support for basic democratic norms, it remains constant regardless of the level of polarisation,” said the researcher, who is affiliated to the UOC-DIGIT centre.

Source: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00104140251414013

Wow they sure bungled that study somehow.

I guess the wiggle words are “do not usually.”

but the take revenge party is the only one I could support after the last 25 years

Anecdotally this title crashes headfirst into American reality.