A Spectre of Democracy? A Comparative Analysis of the Relationship between Populist Attitudes and Regime Preferences

Populism has been a dominant topic in political science for several years yet scholars continue to debate whether populism harms democracy or enhances it. While some scholars and pundits warn about the negative consequences of populism, others have argued that populism is inherently democratic and thus functions as a corrective rather than a threat to democracy. To that end, the aim of this article is to contribute to this debate by honing in on citizens’ preferences for different political regimes. In particular, we aim to uncover (1) whether citizens who hold populist attitudes are more or less likely to prefer a democratic regime to an authoritarian regime; (2) how the respective components of populism contribute to this relationship and (3) how this relationship plays out over time. Using original survey data from six European countries at two points in time, we show that citizens who hold populist attitudes are less likely to prefer a democratic to an authoritarian regime. Furthermore, additional analyses reveal that anti-elitism and a Manichean outlook on society are the driving forces behind this relationship. Lastly, utilising original panel data supports these conclusions as fixed-effects regression models show a negative and consistent influence of populist attitudes on democratic regime preference.