Democratic and Authoritarian Government Preferences in Times of Crisis

Abstract: Prior studies have linked societal threats to a surge in conservative attitudes. We conducted three studies ( N = 1,021) to investigate whether hypothetical threat situations impact peoples’ attitudes toward democracy or alternative systems. Study 1 shows that individuals under threat devaluate representative and participatory government types and show relatively stronger endorsement of less democratic alternatives. Study 2 clarifies that extranational threats elicit a greater shift toward nondemocratic ‘solutions’ than intranational threats and that citizens generally find a just process less important in times of crisis. Study 3 shows that the effect of threat on support for technocracy can be explained by heightened anticipated anxiety. We find no evidence that anticipated emotions consistently account for the observed shifts in government preferences under threat.