Do Voters and Political Elites Share the Same Views on Democracy? Perceptions and Congruence Regarding Democracy and Representation in the Swiss Election Study

It is widely held that democracy is under threat in many parts of the world (Lührmann and Lindberg 2019), and consequently, democratic backsliding has received much attention in recent scholarly and societal debates. Yet, much of the focus in this debate has been on the attitudes of citizens (Graham and Svolik 2020, Wuttke, Gavras et al. 2022) and therefore, we still do not know much about how committed political elites are to upholding the basic principles of democracy, and whether they share, or deviate from, the electorate’s views in this regard. Switzerland, just like any established democracy, is not shielded from democratic erosion. In fact, the Swiss case, a country where citizens have ample opportunities to influence policymaking through popular votes and referenda, is especially interesting for studying whether democratic erosion is occurring, and if so, if it is happening from the bottom or the top. This study seeks to examine voter-elite congruency in attitudes towards democracy and representation in Switzerland. We seek to clarify: 1. What is the extent of commitment to core principles of democracy among Swiss voters and political candidates? 2. Which are the main determinants of support for basic democratic principles, and do they vary between political elites and ordinary citizens? The empirical analyses are based on several original surveys that were conducted in the framework of the 2023 Swiss Election Study: the Candidate Survey (political elites) (N=2’527), the Post-Election Survey (citizens) (N=5’033), and the Panel Survey (citizens) (N=8’197 in the first (pre-election campaign) wave). The preliminary results suggest that commitment to basic democratic principles vary notably by age, education, and to some extent, partisanship. Additionally, the political elites' and the masses’ opinions on democracy seem to converge on many issues, which allows for careful optimism regarding the future of democracy in Switzerland.