Winners’ Restraint or Affective Majoritarianism? Elections, Polarization and Political Support

Research on the impact of elections on attitudes toward democracy has focusedprimarily on satisfaction with democracy. Building on this, we analyze how win-ning and losing elections, along with affective polarization, shapes citizens’ supportfor norms of democratic restraint and consent. We propose that partisan animusweakens the “reservoir of goodwill” that helps citizens accept democratic norms ofrestraint and consent that may go against their self-interest. However, a compara-tive study of 36 elections and two quasi-experimental case studies show that win-ners and losers do not differ significantly in their support for these key democraticnorms. Even in highly polarized contexts, winners’ restraint and losers’ consentremain relatively robust. While satisfaction with democracy is shaped by winner-loser dynamics, especially when polarization is high, support for core democraticprinciples is not, despite increased partisan hostility. These findings have positiveimplications for our understanding of the role of citizens in democratic processes.