Ideological asymmetries of trust in elections and non-voting political participation

We replicate and extend previous research that asks whether operational ideology moderates the relationship between trust in elections and non-voting political participation (NVP) in the United States. Using data from the 2024 American National Election Study (ANES, n = 4256), we find more evidence that operational liberals are positively associated with NVP regardless of trust, whereas distrusting operational conservatives, in particular, are associated with greater NVP. Panel data from the 2020–2024 ANES ( n = 1857) further reveal that prior liberal operational ideology is positively associated with subsequent trust in elections and NVP. Together, our findings contribute to existing literature by demonstrating ideological heterogeneity in trust in elections, NVP, and the relationship between the two. Should these patterns continue, a central challenge of preserving democratic processes may be less about the inherent value of trust and participation, and more about under which conditions these factors signal broader democratic health.