Can Winners be Sore Losers?
Résumé
Political mistrust in France and Europe, has long been regarded as a symptom of democratic
crisis (Bedock 2017; Mounk 2018), characterized by the growing polarization between those who are
satisfied with the current political system and those who are jaded by democracy . The well documented
mechanism of sore losers (inter. al. Blais & al. has been used to help explain the rise in political
polarization following electing periods (Anderson & al. 2005), emphasizing how supporters of losing
candidates declare greater disappointment after the elections However, after the 2022 French
presidential election, we detect in our quantitative survey a trend of winners acting like sore losers .
Rather than a sign of a worsening democratic crisis, we argue that this paradoxical situation sheds light
on the growing dissatisfaction and the disappointment in democracy and in doing so reveals a different
phenomenon: the enhancement and the sophistication of citizens’ democratic demands.
Using a mixed methods approach, our communication aims to reverse the interpretation of
political mistrust as proof of the decline in citizens’ democratic aspirations . Qualitative semi structured
interviews were carried out with French citizens during the electoral campaign allowing us to document
citizens’ wishes about complex forms of interactions with their elected representatives , which mix both
proximity and authority (a "chameleon" verticality), as well as various articulations of democratic
expectations instrumental, procedural, and symbolic We conclude that the only way to explain why
supporters of the winning candidate may act like sore losers and declare lesser satisfaction in democracy
after and despite their electoral victory is by understanding the variety of expectations among voters.
The sociodemographic data analysis of the quantitative survey respondents and the qualitative pre
electoral (and a few post electoral) interviews indicate that democratic disappointment following
elections is not merely caused by results. Consequently, we call for a reconceptualisation of sore losers
that considers a greater comprehension of citizens’ expectations and extends to certain winners.
Domaines
Science politique
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