Replication Data for: The popularity of authoritarian leaders: A cross-national investigation

How do citizens in authoritarian states feel about their leaders? While some dictators rule through terror, others seem genuinely popular. Using the Gallup World Poll’s panel of more than 140 countries in 2006-16, we show that the drivers of political approval differ across types of regime. Although brutal repression in “overt dictatorships” could cause respondents to falsify their preferences, in milder “informational autocracies” greater repression actually predicts lower approval. In autocracies as in democracies, economic performance matters, and citizens’ economic perceptions, while not perfectly accurate, track objective indicators. Dictators also benefit from greater perceived public safety, although we find no such effect in democracies. Covert censorship of the media and Internet are associated with higher approval, but ratings fall when citizens recognize censorship. In informational autocracies, executive elections trigger a ratings surge if the leader changes, but—unlike in democracies—reelected autocrats enjoy little honeymoon.