Does Shared Power Boost Democratic Satisfaction? Exploring Federal-State Partisan Dynamics

Americans' satisfaction with democracy is influenced by partisan representation across government levels.

Data & Methods

Drawing from survey responses in the 2016 American National Election Study (ANES).

This research explores voter attitudes through two original survey experiments analyzing data from the 2016 ANES post-election survey.

Key Findings

• Voters are most satisfied when their preferred party controls both federal and state government.
• Even if a disliked party controls one level (federal or state), satisfaction remains higher than situations with no partisan control at any level.
• Competition across different governmental levels correlates positively with democratic approval.

Why It Matters

These findings suggest that institutional competition in multi-level governance systems can foster greater public trust and contentment with democracy.