Just like the others: Party differences, perception, and satisfaction with democracy

Abstract

A robust literature on citizens’ satisfaction with democracy argues that system satisfaction is based on the policy outcomes that citizens anticipate from electoral results. A tacit assumption in this research is that there are differences between the parties and that citizens are aware of the ideological and preference diversity in their political environment. Some citizens, however, fail to perceive these differences. Using a multi-national set of post-election surveys, regression analysis, and propensity score matching, perceived party difference is shown to substantially impact citizens’ systemic satisfaction. Those who believe all parties are the same are substantially less satisfied with the functioning of their democracy. The negative effect of perceived party homogeneity is mitigated by closeness to a political party and sense of representation. By manipulating the public’s reserve of democratic satisfaction, this perception of party homogeneity threatens democratic stability.

Party system institutionalization, partisan affect, and satisfaction with democracy

“…In forming their evaluations of the political parties and their democracy, respondents are “sensitive to the realities of the ideological menu before them” (Mayne and Hakhverdian 2017, 842). Conservatives are also more likely to report satisfaction with their democracy (Luhiste 2014; Ridge 2021b).…”

“…Hierarchical modeling thus reduces the likelihood of overstating the results. Multilevel ordered models have been used in previous satisfaction with democracy studies (Curini et al 2012; Ridge 2020, 2021b). As in prior studies, mixed effects models with election random effects and fixed effects for the other variables are used.…”

“…These findings would be consistent with a positive direct effect of institutionalization on democratic satisfaction, since they tell the story of a functioning democracy. Research has already shown that satisfaction with democracy is lower among citizens who cannot tell the parties in their system apart (Ridge 2021b).…”

Ideological extremism, perceived party system polarization, and support for democracy

“…All this suggests the possibility that voters who perceive their party system to be either too much or too little polarized may both be less prone to be committed to democracy. In a recent study, Ridge (2021) finds precisely that those who perceive either very little or very major differences between parties are both less likely to express satisfaction with the way democracy works in their country. We suggest this should also be the case for the support for democracy proper.…”

Determining decidability: How issue salience divergence structures party systems and affects citizens

“…I also demonstrate that these perceptions of decidability mediate issue salience divergence's influence on public opinion and political behavior. I investigate whether perceptions of party differences have relevance for our understanding of respondents’ satisfaction with their democracy and voter turnout, both of which party offerings plausibly affect (Högström et al., 2021; Muñoz & Meguid, 2021; Ridge, 2022). When voters perceive a diverse set of options, I argue respondents will exhibit higher levels of satisfaction with democracy because elections are perceived to provide genuine opportunities for voters to express their preferences.…”