Strategic considerations and support for direct democracy in the United States

Abstract

Recent research finds that variation in direct democracy support is partially explained by whether this institution helps advance policy interests. We test this relationship in the United States, whose status as the world's most frequent practitioner of direct democracy and unique nature of citizen-legislating experiences allows us to contribute to this literature. Using a survey of thirteen initiative states that includes questions about every measure on the respondent's ballot, we find that having proposition contests decided as desired, especially for the measure perceived as the most important, is associated with higher support. Those who want a larger percentage of measures to pass are similarly more supportive. We also demonstrate that out-of-power partisans are more favorable toward direct democracy, a finding we replicate for Republicans in a nationwide survey (though this relationship is limited to those aware (or likely aware) of legislative control). We discuss these findings' implications in the conclusion.