The Authoritarian Left Withdraws From Politics: Ideological Asymmetry in the Relationship Between Authoritarianism and Political Engagement (Replication Data)

In this paper, we argue that authoritarianism will be associated with reduced political interest and participation to a greater extent among those who identify with the left rather than the right because left-leaning politics—which challenges the status quo—threatens more instability and flux. Using data from the United States, we provide evidence for this first hypothesis. Using multinational European data, we also provide support for a second hypothesis that this interaction would be more evident in “Westernized” contexts where the traditional left-right difference is clearly defined than in Eastern European countries where its meaning is less distinct; and we conceptually replicate the authoritarianism results using a measure of support for “conservation” values favoring security, conformity, and tradition. Together, these results suggest that the lower visibility of left-wing authoritarianism relative to its counterpart on the right may be due in part to greater withdrawal from politics among left-leaning authoritarians.