How well are European citizens informed about liberal democracy?

How much genuine demand is there for liberal democracy and who is it coming from? Although the majority of European citizens express support for democracy over alternative systems, the way these citizens conceptualise democracy is often different. Research shows that citizens have various expectations of what a democracy should look like, and that some of these expectations are often contradictory or inconsistent with each other. What’s more, many citizens understand democracy in ambiguous ways, such that authoritarian and illiberal notions of what democracy means mix with electoral and liberal notions. This ambiguity raises some questions about (1) whether these citizens actually understand the meaning of liberal democracy, (2) how much of the expressed support for liberal democracy can be considered genuine, and (3) who is more likely to have an accurate understanding of liberal democracy. To address these questions, this paper evaluates how well or poorly citizens in 12 European countries understand the concept of liberal democracy and examines the factors influencing citizens’ level of understanding. The results show that most European citizens do not have an accurate understanding of liberal democracy. As citizens are generally able to recognise electoral and liberal features as essential for democracy, this lack of informed understanding stems from an inability to differentiate liberal democracy from its illiberal and non-democratic alternatives. This paper also finds that citizens with a well-informed understanding of liberal democracy have rather homogeneous profiles across Europe, with only slight differences between those in older and newer democracies in terms of their political ideology, extremism, and income. These findings contribute to the literature on democratic support and democratic backsliding, particularly to our understanding of why some citizens might express strong support for liberal democracy in the abstract while simultaneously endorsing illiberal and even undemocratic leadership.