Perceptions of (Unequal) Responsiveness and their Consequences for Electoral Participation

Research on a variety of advanced democracies has shown that there is a link between mass preferences and public policy. It has also documented that when there are differences in preferences between income groups, public policy tend to be more responsive to the preferences of richer citizens. We know little, however, about citizens’ perceptions of responsiveness as well as of unequal responsiveness and their consequences for electoral participation. This is relevant as citizens’ perceptions of their influence on policy directly factors in the perception of the utility of voting. If citizens do not feel that they have an influence on political outcomes they might get discouraged from going to the voting booth, which in turn lowers the incentives for political actors to take their views into consideration. This manuscript addresses this issue by analysing citizens’ perceptions of policy responsiveness and of unequal policy responsiveness, the extent to which these perceptions vary by income as well as the effect of those perception on turnout across various income groups. Using data from an original survey conducted in 12 west European countries and the United States in 2019 as well as data from the European Social Survey of 2012, the analyses reveal that there is little variation in responsiveness perceptions across income groups: a majority of citizens from all income groups are sceptical about their own influence on policy and perceive a bias in policy making that favours the rich. These perceptions are associated with lower levels of participation, especially among low-income groups. Overall, results show that evaluations of responsiveness matter for political participation, but these evaluations cannot explain differences in participation between income groups since all groups have very similar perceptions of responsiveness as well as of inequality in responsiveness