The electoral choice context and support for democratic norms

Area of Science:

• Political Science
• Behavioral Economics
• Social Psychology

Background:

• Voter behavior is influenced by the choice environment.
• Understanding factors that promote democratic norms is crucial for preventing democratic backsliding.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how different choice environments, specifically the number of races on a ballot, affect voters' willingness to prioritize democracy over party and policy.
• To identify and analyze the phenomenon termed 'democratic balancing'.

Main Methods:

• Conducted a series of candidate choice experiments manipulating candidate attributes and the number of ballot races.
• Analyzed observational data from the 2022 U.S. midterm elections to corroborate experimental findings.

Main Results:

• Voters are significantly more likely to punish antidemocratic candidates in multirace ballot settings compared to single-race settings.
• The punishment effect increased from 11% in single-race ballots to 17.9% in multirace ballots.
• Findings were robust across various candidate platforms, survey waves, norm violations, and electoral combinations.

Conclusions:

• The institutional context, specifically the number of races on a ballot, plays a crucial role in voter decisions regarding democratic norms.
• Multirace ballots encourage voters to uphold democracy, tempering the trade-off between democratic values and partisan/policy preferences.
• Results offer reassurance for concerns about democratic backsliding by highlighting a mechanism that strengthens democratic commitment.