Steadfast support: What drives committed citizens to uphold democratic principles?

Can we count on citizens to protect democratic principles when needed? A growing body of research highlights citizens’ troubling tolerance for undemocratic practices and candidates, suggesting that citizens are willing to turn a blind eye to democratic violations when they benefit their political agenda. These observations have led scholars to delve deeper into the reasons behind citizens’ willingness to tolerate undemocratic practices, exploring factors such as affective polarization or democratic rationalization. However, the scholarly emphasis on understanding citizens’ antidemocratic tendencies, while very important, obscures a critical insight: The overwhelming majority of citizens oppose democratic violations and express strong support for democracy as the preferred form of governance. As such, in this paper, we shift the focus to exploring the motivations of citizens who are steadfast in their democratic commitment: ‘What drives them to uphold democratic institutions and principles?’ To that end, we leverage open-ended responses from two original survey experiments conducted in the UK (N = 4,040) and the US (N = 4,084). Using the novel concept induction algorithm LLooM, which draws on the ability of Large Language Models, we identify the key motivations behind citizens’ democratic commitment, even in tempting scenarios where their adherence to democracy is tested. Preliminary findings reveal that citizens’ motivations are diverse, ranging from instrumental considerations – such as presumed electoral benefits of sticking to the democratic rules of the game – to moral imperatives emphasizing fairness and justice. These insights provide a deeper understanding of the motivations sustaining democratic support and uncover strategies to strengthen democratic commitment among the broader population.