Winners, losers, and the others: Disaggregating South Korean satisfaction with politics

Abstract

What factors influence satisfaction with politics after elections? The literature on losers' consent consistently finds diverging perceptions between electoral winners and losers, but rarely disaggregates the electorate further into nonpartisan voters and nonvoters. In addition, the literature relies heavily on individual elections in isolation and thus is rarely able to address general trends. This study uses Korean General Social Survey (KGSS) data across multiple elections and finds electoral winners consistently have higher evaluations than those who identified and voted for electoral losers. This pattern holds after demographic controls and evaluations of the executive and legislative institutions as well. However, no consistent pattern emerges among nonpartisans and nonvoters.