Partisan or Principled? Explaining Political Differences in Attitudes About Violations of Democratic Norms

Although both Democrats and Republicans tend to be more tolerant of democratic norm violations that benefit their own party, this pattern is not always symmetrical, even when political stakes appear identical. Two experiments (N = 2,352) tested competing explanations: that partisans differ in democratic commitment, their tendency to rationalize violations as legitimate, or the values they prioritize (e.g., voter access vs. election integrity). Both parties rationalized weaker opposition to beneficial violations as more democratic. However, Republicans in Study 1 were more responsive to partisan advantage without showing similarly greater democratic rationalization and more tolerant of mail-in voting restrictions regardless of partisan benefit. These differences disappeared in Study 2 when different violations were tested, suggesting such asymmetries are issue-specific rather than fixed. Overall, the findings suggest that partisan gaps in support for democratic norm violations reflect the politicization of particular practices more than stable differences in commitment to democracy.