How citizens’ conceptions of democracy relate to positive and negative partisanship towards populist parties

Although scholars emphasise the contentious relationship of populist forces to (liberal) democracy, less attention has been paid whether this extends those who support or oppose parties. This article utilises a public opinion dataset from ten Western European countries analyse how citizens’ conceptions democracy relate behavioural intention vote for against The empirical analysis shows that positive and negative identification with parties is driven by different understandings democracy: While individuals are inclined liberal but more direct authoritarian forms rule likely sympathise parties, opposite understanding predicts opposition both left-wing right-wing populists. These findings demonstrate citizens partisanship towards divided in their interpretations about conceptual meaning normative functioning democracy.