Anti-Political-Establishment Citizens: An In-Depth Study from Two Latin American Countries

By: Loreto Cox and Natalia Garbiras-Diaz

Format:Print
| Language:English
| Pages:66

Abstract

Building on citizens’ animosity towards politicians, anti-establishment parties and candidates have achieved significant electoral success. While recent studies examine the supply-side, we know little about what drives citizens’ anti-establishment sentiments and how anti-establishment appeals shape voting behavior. Using survey data from Colombia and Peru around the 2022 elections, and combining experimental and observational approaches, we show that anti-political-establishment sentiments are widespread, span the ideological spectrum, and stem mainly from perceptions of corruption and broken promises by leaders. While these sentiments, when heightened, do not make citizens less democratic, they do reduce trust in institutions. In Colombia, where voting is voluntary, they also mobilize respondents. We identify electoral advantages for candidates using anti-establishment appeals, especially among antiestablishment citizens (a supply-demand match). The appeal of anti-establishment rhetoric also weakens citizens’ punishment of anti-democratic candidates. We make substantive and methodological contributions to research on citizen disaffection with politics and the rise of populism.