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Do Voters Trust Deliberative Minipublics? Examining the Origins and Impact of Legitimacy Perceptions for the Citizens’ Initiative Review

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Abstract

Deliberative theorists argue that democracies face an increasing legitimacy crisis for lack of effective representation and robust decision-making processes. To address this problem, democratic reformers designed minipublics, such as Citizens Juries, Citizens Assemblies, and Deliberative Polls. Little is known, however, about who trusts minipublics and why. We use survey experiments to explore whether minipublics in three US states were able to influence the electorate’s policy knowledge and voting choices and whether such influences hinged on legitimacy. On average, respondents were uncertain or tilted towards distrust of these minipublics. We found higher levels of trust among people of color compared to Whites, poor compared to rich, and young compared to old. Specific information about minipublic design features did not boost their perceived legitimacy. In fact, one result suggests that awareness of balanced partisan testimony decreased trust. Finally, results show that minipublics can sway voters and improve knowledge, above and beyond the effects of a conventional voter pamphlet, but these effects were largely independent of minipublic trust.

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Notes

  1. Statistics from https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/ror/15day-gen-2018/historical-reg-stats.pdf

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Acknowledgements

The 2018 data collection effort was paid for with funds from the Pennsylvania State University. For assistance with questionnaire item development and/or direct observation of the 2018 CIRs, thanks go to Lala Muradova Huseynova (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven), Jonathan Gruber (the Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Katherine Knobloch (Colorado State University), Michael Morrell (University of Connecticut), Alexander Geisler (Université de Genève), Nenad Stojanović (Université de Genève), Charly Pache, Maija Setälä (Turun yliopisto), Maija Jäske (Turun yliopisto), Henrik Serup Christensen (Åbo Akademi), Jane Suiter and David Farrell (University College Dublin), Arild Ohren (Norges teknisknaturvitenskapelige universitet), David Brinker (Tufts University), Laura Black (Ohio University), and Genevieve Fuji Johnson (Simon Fraser University). Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the project sponsors.

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The data was paid for with funds from the Pennsylvania State University.

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  1. Duke Kunshan University, No. 8 Duke Avenue, Kunshan, 215316, Jiangsu Province, China

    Kristinn Már

  2. Department of Communication Arts & Sciences and Political Science, The Pennsylvania State University, 230 Sparks Bldg, University Park, PA, 16802, USA

    John Gastil

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Már, K., Gastil, J. Do Voters Trust Deliberative Minipublics? Examining the Origins and Impact of Legitimacy Perceptions for the Citizens’ Initiative Review. Polit Behav 45, 975–994 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-021-09742-6

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