Election outcomes, legislative representation, and satisfaction with democracy

This paper disentangles the relationship between election outcomes and satisfaction with democracy. As the first comparative study to employ a measure of satisfaction immediately before and after elections, we can be unusually confident that any changes we observe are attributable to election outcom...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Party politics 2017-03, Vol.23 (2), p.85-95
Main Authors: Blais, André, Morin-Chassé, Alexandre, Singh, Shane P
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cabinet
Comparative studies
Democracy
Election results
Elections
Political campaigns
Political parties
Representation
Satisfaction
Voter behavior
Voters
Voting
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Summary:This paper disentangles the relationship between election outcomes and satisfaction with democracy. As the first comparative study to employ a measure of satisfaction immediately before and after elections, we can be unusually confident that any changes we observe are attributable to election outcomes. Following previous work, we affirm that voting for parties that win more votes, more legislative seats, and more cabinet seats boosts satisfaction with democracy. In addition, we demonstrate for the first time that voters are sensitive to deficits in representation; satisfaction with democracy decreases when one’s party’s seat share falls short of its vote share.
ISSN:1354-0688
1460-3683
DOI:10.1177/1354068815583200