Democratic Attitudes and Electoral Clientelism: Evidence from the Republic of Moldova

People’s attitudes towards electoral clientelism have often been studied through the lenses of its acceptability as a norm in society or the socio-economic profile of those people who accept clientelistic goods or services if offered. However, we know little about the link between democratytic attitudes and the acceptance of electoral clientelism. To fill this gap in the literature, this paper analyzes the effect of people’s attitudes towards representative democracy on their likelihood to accept different clientelistic offers in exchange for their votes. It uses a survey conducted on a nationally representative sample of 1,025 respondents in the Republic of Moldova in the aftermath of the 2024 presidential elections. the country is selected as a representative case for transition countries with variation of democratic attitudes among citizens. It compares the effects of attitudes towards the regime (diffuse support for democracy), attitudes towards institutions (e.g. trust in political parties, satisfaction with the government’s performance), prominence of political representatives in taking decisions, and policies of quality and inclusiveness. It controls for partisanship, political apathy, individual experience with electoral clientelism, and socio-demographic characteristics such as age, education, income and area of residence.