Presidential approval and power concentration as leverage of political support: Evidence from Latin America

This article examines how presidential approval influences political support, conditional on the degree of power concentration in the executive. While previous research shows that presidential approval influences democratic and tolerant attitudes, this study advances the argument that, in certain contexts, citizens’ evaluations of presidential performance become proxies for their assessments of the political system as a whole. Consequently, these evaluations affect political support, measured through respect for institutions and support for the political system. Moreover, this effect is conditioned by cross-national variation in the degree of power concentration in the executive. The analysis focuses on Latin America, drawing on the AmericasBarometer (2006–2023). The findings reveal that presidential approval is positively associated with political support, but that such relationship is contingent: concentrated power strengthens political support when approval is high yet undermines it when approval declines, creating strong incentives for presidents engaged in executive aggrandisement to sustain broad approval.