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Full-Text Articles in Political Theory
Citizens’ Democratic Attitudes: Winning The Constituency Offsets The Negative Effect Of Electoral Defeat At The National Level, Hannah Ridge
Citizens’ Democratic Attitudes: Winning The Constituency Offsets The Negative Effect Of Electoral Defeat At The National Level, Hannah Ridge
Political Science Faculty Articles and Research
Hannah Ridge examines the effect of constituency election victories and defeats on citizens’ democratic opinions in three majoritarian democracies: Australia, Canada, and Great Britain. She finds that winning in the constituency offsets the negative effect of electoral defeat at the national level; among national winners, however, the district result has limited impact on democratic attitudes. Constituency-level victories are less effective at mitigating the effect of national defeat on more diffuse democracy support.
Electoral Outcomes And Support For Westminster Democracy, Hannah M. Ridge
Electoral Outcomes And Support For Westminster Democracy, Hannah M. Ridge
Political Science Faculty Articles and Research
It is well established that those who supported the winning side in elections report greater specific democratic support – they are more satisfied with the functioning of their democracy – than those who supported the losing side. This literature, however, has focused almost exclusively on winning the presidency or premiership. This project extends that literature to incorporate the effect of district election victories and defeats on citizens’ democratic opinions using post-election surveys in three Westminster-style democracies: Australia, Canada, and Great Britain. It also includes two indicators of democratic institutional support: believing it matters for whom people vote and believing it …
Just Like The Others: Party Differences, Perception, And Satisfaction With Democracy, Hannah M. Ridge
Just Like The Others: Party Differences, Perception, And Satisfaction With Democracy, Hannah M. Ridge
Political Science Faculty Articles and Research
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 …