Accountability, Identity Politics, and Democratic Decay: Experimental Evidence from the World’s Third Largest Democracy

Abstract

We study the role of the lay conception of democracy in voting behavior in the context of the 2024 general election in Indonesia. We hypothesize that democracy’s shortcomings might be due to voters inaccurately understanding what the function of democratic elections is, and hence, which candidate qualities they should consider when casting a vote. We carry out a large three-wave panel survey with a representative sample of Indonesian voters with almost four thousand respondents. We randomly assigned information treatment: In the treatment condition, respondents watch an educational animated video explaining the accountability conception of democracy using a metaphor easy to grasp for a layperson. In the control condition, neutral information about general election eligibility and procedures is provided, in a visual format identical to the treatment video. We study a number of outcomes: Preferences regarding leadership qualities, turnout, vote buying, and dynasty politics. To measure preferences, we use a conjoint experiment in which respondents choose between fifteen pairs of fully randomized hypothetical legislative candidate profiles. We then estimate how the randomized informational treatment affects the relative weights respondents place on identity markers vis a vis valence and policy positions.