Populist Discourse and Public Support for Executive Aggrandizement in Latin America

Abstract

What explains citizen support for executive aggrandizement? Previous work points to support for the president, showing that individuals who support the incumbent are more accepting of executive aggrandizement. Yet, the role of the president in shaping support for (and the meaning of) executive aggrandizement is unexplored. I argue that populist discourse increases support for executive aggrandizement by framing the president as the genuine representative of the people and by portraying institutional opposition as corrupt. Two studies support this argument: First, a multilevel analysis shows that a text-based measure of populist discourse is associated with increasing support for the president closing congress or the supreme court. The estimated effect of populist discourse is largest among presidential supporters. Second, a survey experiment conducted in Ecuador shows that populist and anti-elitist discourse increase support for a hypothetical executive closing the legislature. The findings indicate that populist discourse undermines public opinion as an executive accountability mechanism.