Why do people like technocrats? Partisanship, expertise, and perceptions of ministerial competence and effectiveness

Studies show that many voters support the inclusion of technocrats in government. Yet we do not know whether technocrats are considered more appealing than party representatives because of their expertise or because of their lack of party affiliation. Drawing on a pre-registered survey experiment conducted in Austria, we examine whether manipulating ministers' party affiliation and expertise affects voters' perceptions of their competence and political effectiveness. We find that (1) holding expertise constant, voters view partisan ministers as less competent; (2) the positive effect of expertise on competence and effectiveness is smaller for partisan ministers; (3) competence perceptions of partisan ministers are shaped by voters' propensity to vote for the party. These findings suggest that support for technocratic government is not only driven by demand for expertise, but also by anti-party sentiment.