Does Voting in Authoritarian Elections Change Political Trust?
Abstract
Does voting in an authoritarian election influence political trust? If it does, why? Using data from a Chinese public opinion survey conducted in 2014, we examine the relationship between political trust and grassroots electoral participation in China. We find that there is a positive correlation between voting in grassroots elections and trust in authoritarian governments. Our further causal analysis shows how grassroots voting improves political trust in governments. We argue that electoral participation, although in an authoritarian setting, enables voters to feel more involved in the decision-making process, and such feelings improve their political trust. This research sheds light on the motivations for autocrats’ holding elections and how such authoritarian elections, in turn, contribute to autocratic regime survival.
