Don't Budge! The Reputational Cost of Political Compromises

How do citizens evaluate political parties' willingness to compromise during coalition negotiations in representative democracies? While previous research has shown that citizens support the principle of political compromise, it remains unclear how parties’ compromise acceptance during coalition negotiations affects appraisals of trust and credibility. We use a pre-registered survey-experiment in Germany fielded during the coalition negotiations after the 2021 parliamentary elections (\texttt{N=7,562}) to isolate the effect of parties’ negotiation position from success or failure in the negotiations. Findings reveal that citizens view parties more positively when they remain steadfast during negotiations. The negative effect of compromise on party evaluations persists regardless of negotiation success, indicating a preference for policy representation over governing responsibility. Highly principled individuals and those with low social trust are found to view compromising parties less favorably. Given the centrality of compromise in representative democracy, our study has important implications for the study of political representation.