Are People More Satisfied with Democracy When They Feel They Won the Election? No
| Author | Jean-François Daoust,Carolina Plescia,André Blais |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/14789299211058390 |
| Published date | 01 February 2023 |
| Date | 01 February 2023 |
| Subject Matter | The Null Hypothesis |
https://doi.org/10.1177/14789299211058390
Political Studies Review
2023, Vol. 21(1) 162 –171
© The Author(s) 2021
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DOI: 10.1177/14789299211058390
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Are People More Satisfied
with Democracy When
They Feel They Won the
Election? No
Jean-François Daoust1, Carolina Plescia2
and André Blais3
Abstract
Citizens who voted for a party ending up in government are more satisfied with democracy than
those who supported a party that ends up in the opposition. The assumption is that voting for
a party that is included in the government produces a perception of having won the election,
which increases one’s level of satisfaction with democracy. This (assumed) mediation has never
been directly tested. In this research note, we provide the first empirical test of this mediation
using data from the Making Electoral Democracy Work project, which includes a question tapping
whether the respondent perceives the party she voted for won or lost the election. We do not
find support for the mediation hypothesis. We conclude that the meaning of the higher (lower)
satisfaction observed among those who voted for a party included in the government (or in the
opposition) remains ambiguous. Our research has important implications for the conceptualization
of what it means to win or lose an election.
Keywords
democracy, elections, winner–loser gap, satisfaction with democracy, party performance
Accepted: 20 October 2021
After an election, citizens who supported a party ending up in government are more satis-
fied with democracy than those who supported a party that ends up in the opposition. This
is one of the most robust findings in political science (Anderson et al., 2005; Anderson
and LoTempio, 2002; Berggren et al., 2008; Bernauer and Vatter, 2012; Blais and
Gélineau, 2007; Craig et al., 2006; Curini et al., 2012; Dahlberg and Linde, 2017; Delgado,
2016; Ferland, 2015; Fortin-Rittberger et al., 2017; Han and Chang, 2016; Hollander,
1The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
2Universiy of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
3Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada
Corresponding author:
Jean-François Daoust, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
Email: jf.daoust@ed.ac.uk
1058390PSW0010.1177/14789299211058390Political Studies ReviewDaoust et al.
research-article2021
The Null Hypothesis
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