Do voters support democracy at all costs? Input and output legitimacy in Australia and the United Kingdom

Abstract

Are voters willing to sacrifice democracy if they get everything else they want from their political leaders? Recent trends towards illiberalism in established democracies have called into question voters’ commitment to democratic values in the face of competing incentives like partisan identities and policy rewards. This article investigates whether voters tolerate breaches of democratic norms (input legitimacy) in the face of policy congruence with a potential leader (output legitimacy). Utilising a conjoint experiment fielded in Australia and the United Kingdom, we find that voters value both types of legitimacy but are prepared to forgo democratic governance (input legitimacy) for high levels of policy congruence (output legitimacy). This research contributes to the growing literature on democratic resilience and authoritarian leadership styles within democracies, showing that there is a danger of citizens trading away democratic principles even in seemingly stable and unchallenged democratic countries.

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