Citizens, Politicians and Experts in Political Decision-Making: The Importance of Perceptions of the Qualities of Political Actors

Abstract

What factors explain whether citizens prefers politicians, citizens or experts to make political decisions? In this article, we show that level of support for the political system plays an important role. In addition, citizens? perceptions of the moral and technical capacities of the traditional actors in democracy (political elite and citizens) help to provide a better picture of the nature of citizens? preferences. Through analysis of survey data, we show that the aforesaid factors are relevant to understand the vectors of citizens? preferences in who should make the political decisions in democracy. Moreover, our results support some of Hibbing and Theiss-Morse's arguments, while others should be revised.