Do Two-Party Systems Hamper Defection from Undemocratic Candidates?

Abstract

Do two-party systems foster support for undemocratic leaders? I revisit the classical debate about party systems and democratic stability employing two innovative candidate choice experiments fielded in England. Specifically, I implement two designs manipulating the number and effective number of parties displayed between two and three, reflecting the ambiguity of England's party system. Contrary to expectations, I find that Labour and Conservative identifiers do not defect more from undemocratic in-partisan candidates when they face three (effective) parties---Labour, the Conservatives, and the Liberal Democrats---rather than just the two major parties. Instead, defection to the out-party drops and relocates to the Liberal Democrats even when the latter have no chance of winning, which boosts the chances of the undemocratic in-party. These findings highlight adverse effects of multi-party systems for democratic stability and have implications for our understanding of electoral outcomes in backsliding democracies such as Hungary and the United States.