Prefer the Corrupt One: A Profile of Citizens who Choose Dishonest butCompetent Politicians

Abstract

Electoral results show that voters do not always punish corrupt politicians at the ballot box and some will vote for corrupt candidates if they are competent. The aim of this paper is to analyse the characteristics that differentiate between citizens who are prepared to support corrupt politicians from voters who are not, based on public opinion data from Costa Rica. The results show that four variables differentiate between the two groups: political knowledge, income, age and gender. Women and citizens with more political knowledge choose dishonest but competent politicians to a lesser extent than men and those with low levels of political knowledge. However, young people and citizens with higher income levels are willing to allow dishonesty to be offset by better competence to a greater extent than adults and those with low income.