Partisan Cues and Public Support for Democratic Norm Violations Indices Partisans et Soutien Public aux Violations des Normes Démocratiques En Fr

Résumé 0

Democratic norms are implicit guidelines governing acceptable behavior in politics and encompass unspoken principles and conventions that guide political behavior. These norms address a variety of key democratic facets, such as maintaining civility in party politics, recognizing election outcomes, or tolerating diverse viewpoints. In this experimental study, we explore the impact of partisan cues and party endorsements on public support for violations of democratic norms within selected policy areas in the United States. We found that out-party endorsement significantly reduces support for democratic norm violations regardless of policy issue. In contrast, partisans are relatively less responsive and tend to be more selective in increasing their support for norm violations when exposed to explicit endorsements from in-party elites and fellow partisans. Further, compared to less polarized individuals, partisans with higher levels of affective polarization primarily care about out-party harm and in-party benefit. They are more willing to update their support for norm violations regardless of whether the issues are proattitudinal or counterattitudinal. However, the party cue receptivity does not change across different levels of affective polarization. These findings underscore the importance of considering the multifaceted role of cue-taking and affective polarization in shaping attitudes toward democratic norms.