What Do the 'Left Behind' Want from Democracy? Exploring the Relationship Between Societal Marginalization and Governance Preferences

The recent rise of populism and authoritarianism has sparked debate about their implications for democratic stability. Existing research repeatedly links support for populism and authoritarianism to the “left behind”. While the “left behind” are associated with populist voting, authoritarian attitudes, and specific policy preferences, less is known about their broader governance preferences, including what type of governance regime they would support. Traditionally, this group has been characterized by precarious employment, low levels of formal education, and low income. However, recent studies highlight the growing importance of subjective perceptions of marginalization over objective socioeconomic conditions. This study uses survey data from 5,000 respondents in the United States and Germany and an innovative design to examine the relationship between perceived societal recognition across cultural, economic and political dimensions and governance preferences. By combining a conjoint experiment with closed-ended survey questions, it captures both general governance preferences and issue-specific decision-making preferences, providing a comprehensive picture of the “left behind” and their preferences. The results show that perceived marginalization shapes governance preferences in different ways. For example, cultural marginalization is associated with support for assertive leadership, while respondents who perceive economic and political marginalization are more likely to favor participatory governance models. The findings underscore the importance of addressing the multiple dimensions of perceived exclusion in order to bridge societal divides and (re)integrate those who feel marginalized into politics.