Replication Data for: Are People Willing to Trade Away Democracy for Desirable Outcomes? Experimental Evidence from Six Countries

To what extent do people prioritize living in a democracy over other indicators of good governance or personal well-being? This question has become contested as democracies come under pressure worldwide. We address this gap through cross-national conjoint experiments in which survey respondents choose between hypothetical countries that differ in terms of societal-level attributes (e.g., elections, health care) and individual-level outcomes that the respondent would experience (e.g., wealth, minority status). People across Egypt, India, Italy, Japan, Thailand, and the United States consistently prioritize living in a safe country with free and fair elections over other factors, including other components of democracy like civil liberties and checks and balances. Regarding tradeoffs, many people would forfeit democratic elections to avoid living in a dangerous society but not to obtain wealth and other goods. Electoral democracy is attractive globally but can be undermined by concerns about crime and safety.

民众会在多大程度上将生活于民主国家置于良好治理的其他指标或个人福祉之上？随着全球范围内民主政体普遍面临压力，这一问题也引发了广泛争议。为填补这一研究空白，我们开展了跨国联合实验：受访对象需在不同假设国家间进行选择，这些国家在社会层面属性（如选举制度、医疗保障）以及受访者自身将经历的个人层面结果（如财富水平、少数群体身份）上存在差异。埃及、印度、意大利、日本、泰国与美国的受访民众均一致将生活在拥有自由公正选举的安全国家，置于包括公民自由、权力制衡等民主其他组成要素在内的各类因素之上。在权衡取舍方面，多数民众宁愿放弃民主选举以规避生活于危险社会的风险，却不愿为获取财富与其他福利而牺牲选举。选举式民主在全球范围内颇具吸引力，但民众对犯罪与安全的担忧可能会削弱其吸引力。