Replication Data for: Fiddling while Democracy Burns: Partisan Reactions to Weak Democracy in Latin America

Democracy is weakened when citizens do not criticize actions and actors that are attempting to undermine its principles. Yet this study documents a widespread pattern of partisan rationalization in how elites and the public evaluate democratic performance in Latin America. In particular, those whose party controls the presidency continue to express positive opinions of the current state of democratic competition and institutions even when democracy is weak. This pattern emerges in both mass survey data and among elected elites. These data have a worrying implication: if only the political opposition is willing to publicly acknowledge and sound the alarm when democracy is under attack, public pressure to protect democracy is likely to be dramatically reduced.