Evaluating Democracy: Lay Perceptions vs. Expert Assessments in Hungary

Citizens are often regarded as the ultimate guardians of democracy, yet questions remain about their ability and willingness to fulfill this role. What do citizens need to do to uphold democracy? Extant research explored citizens' support for the abstract concept of democracy and their evaluations of undemocratic actors or policies. Most studies exploring reactions to (hypothetical) examples of democratic subversion employ forced-exposure paradigms, presenting participants with information about violations and measuring their responses. In real life, however, citizens may ignore, forget, or fail to encounter information about subversion -- especially because many backsliding democracies are characterized by media capture, polarized media environments, political alienation and apathy. Are citizens aware of various democratic norms and institutions come under attack? This study shifts the focus to knowledge as a critical component of democratic commitment employing Hungary as a critical case of a backsliding democracy. We translate V-Dem’s 23 subjective indicators of electoral democracy into accessible items and ask respondents to evaluate their country’s democratic standing using a representative survey (N = 1000). We explore whether these assessments align with expert evaluations and how partisan identity, affective polarization, education, and political interest shape perceptions. We also quantify how each of these indicators contribute to perceptions of the country's democraticness in general. This work is part of a larger initiative to map public understanding of democratic norms across expert and non-expert populations in backsliding contexts. Findings will inform the development of an interactive online tool designed to educate citizens about democratic principles and enhance their ability to critically assess the state of democracy in their own countries.