"Losers' Dissent". Populism and (Dis-)Satisfaction with Democracy

Democracy hinges on a "procedural consensus": Citizens have to accept the outcome of democratic procedures even if they disagree with them. However, disgruntled citizens who support populist parties are less ready to accept the outcomes of democratic procedures. Research on "Losers' Consent" has demonstrated that winners generally judge the way democracy works more positively than losers. In the article, we show that the winner-loser gap is particularly pronounced for voters of populist parties and citizens with populist attitudes. Losing significantly reduces how contend they are with democracy and the effect is larger than for other citizens. To demonstrate this, we use cross-sectional data from the European Social Survey, panel data from the most recent American National Election Study and populist attitudes scale used in a recent German survey. In each case, losers are less satisfied with way democracy works, populists are less satisfied than non-populists, and these two effects reinforce each other.