Chilean Democracy Reform: What Preferences Inform the New Constitution?

Understanding Chileans' views on democratic features is crucial as they shape a new constitution. This Research Note employs conjunct experiments with large quota samples to examine their preferences, finding distinct but largely uniform opinions across demographic groups regarding key aspects of democracy currently under debate in Chile's reform. The findings offer insights into ongoing constitutional processes and lessons for other democracies navigating similar reforms.

Chileans' Democratic Views:

🗳️ Conjoint Experiment Results

• Chileans prefer certain democratic features that are being contested by the current reform process.
• These preferences appear stable, with little difference observed across various demographic subgroups.

Implications for Reform:

🔄 Matching Preferences to Policy Development

• The data suggests a need to align constitutional provisions closely with citizens' expressed democratic priorities.
• This case study underscores how representative democracy can inform significant political transformations underway in Chile.