Reassessing the winner-loser gap in satisfaction with democracy.
Citizens who support a party which enters government are systematically more satisfied with democracy compared to voters who supported a party which ends up in the opposition. This relationship is labelled as the "winner-loser gap," but we lack firm causal evidence of this gap. We provide...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2024-01-01
|
| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0314967 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1841556894589648896 |
|---|---|
| author | Jean-François Daoust Miroslav Nemčok Philipp Broniecki Peter J Loewen |
| author_facet | Jean-François Daoust Miroslav Nemčok Philipp Broniecki Peter J Loewen |
| author_sort | Jean-François Daoust |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Citizens who support a party which enters government are systematically more satisfied with democracy compared to voters who supported a party which ends up in the opposition. This relationship is labelled as the "winner-loser gap," but we lack firm causal evidence of this gap. We provide a causal estimate of the effects of voting for a winning or losing party by leveraging data from surveys fielded before and after new government formations in three well established democracies (Netherlands, Norway and Iceland) were announced in contexts of very high uncertainty. Using a regression discontinuity design comparing citizens' levels of satisfaction with democracy just before and just after their electoral status (winner or loser) was revealed, we find that the impact of winning or losing is undistinguishable from zero. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-c6c68d68f58445e58a53256cf62f562b |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj-art-c6c68d68f58445e58a53256cf62f562b2025-01-07T05:33:05ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032024-01-011912e031496710.1371/journal.pone.0314967Reassessing the winner-loser gap in satisfaction with democracy.Jean-François DaoustMiroslav NemčokPhilipp BronieckiPeter J LoewenCitizens who support a party which enters government are systematically more satisfied with democracy compared to voters who supported a party which ends up in the opposition. This relationship is labelled as the "winner-loser gap," but we lack firm causal evidence of this gap. We provide a causal estimate of the effects of voting for a winning or losing party by leveraging data from surveys fielded before and after new government formations in three well established democracies (Netherlands, Norway and Iceland) were announced in contexts of very high uncertainty. Using a regression discontinuity design comparing citizens' levels of satisfaction with democracy just before and just after their electoral status (winner or loser) was revealed, we find that the impact of winning or losing is undistinguishable from zero. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0314967 |
| spellingShingle | Jean-François Daoust Miroslav Nemčok Philipp Broniecki Peter J Loewen Reassessing the winner-loser gap in satisfaction with democracy. PLoS ONE |
| title | Reassessing the winner-loser gap in satisfaction with democracy. |
| title_full | Reassessing the winner-loser gap in satisfaction with democracy. |
| title_fullStr | Reassessing the winner-loser gap in satisfaction with democracy. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Reassessing the winner-loser gap in satisfaction with democracy. |
| title_short | Reassessing the winner-loser gap in satisfaction with democracy. |
| title_sort | reassessing the winner loser gap in satisfaction with democracy |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0314967 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT jeanfrancoisdaoust reassessingthewinnerlosergapinsatisfactionwithdemocracy AT miroslavnemcok reassessingthewinnerlosergapinsatisfactionwithdemocracy AT philippbroniecki reassessingthewinnerlosergapinsatisfactionwithdemocracy AT peterjloewen reassessingthewinnerlosergapinsatisfactionwithdemocracy |