Publication
Title
Opinion incongruence and public support for direct decision-making
Author
Abstract
Political representation does not function well for citizens whose positions on political issues differ from those of elected representatives. In this paper, we argue that opinion incongruence leads citizens to want to bypass elected representatives and place more decision-making power in the hands of the public. We theorise that this is because incongruent citizens are highly dissatisfied with the existing political system and/or think they will benefit from direct decision-making in terms of improved policy responsiveness. Using data from the 2019 Belgian Election Survey (n = 3413) and Party Leadership Survey, we find that greater incongruence between citizens' positions and those of their elected representatives is related to higher support for direct decision-making. This holds for opinion incongruence with the party voted for and incongruence with Parliament as a whole. This paper contributes novel insights into the consequences of the quality of political representation as well as the drivers of citizens' support for direct decision-making processes.
Language
English
Source (journal)
European journal of political research / European Consortium for Political Research [Colchester] - Amsterdam, 1973, currens
Publication
Hoboken : Wiley , 2024
ISSN
0304-4130 [print]
1475-6765 [online]
DOI
10.1111/1475-6765.12653
Volume/pages
(2024) , p. 1-20
ISI
001143802600001
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (publisher's version - intranet only)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Project info
Representation and Democratic Resentment (RepResent).
Publication type
Subject
Law 
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 01.02.2024
Last edited 08.02.2024
To cite this reference