“When they go low, we kick them”: The reciprocal nature of citizens’ support for democratic transgressions

This study examines how citizens respond to democratic transgressions by political opponents and whether they, in turn, support reciprocal transgressions by their own party. Drawing on psychological theories of negative reciprocity, we argue that commitment to democratic principles is relational, shaped by the (un)democratic behavior of other political actors. Through survey experiments in England (N = 4,040) and the United States (N = 4,084) we find that exposure to opponents’ transgressions doubles citizens’ likelihood of endorsing undemocratic actions by their own party. Moreover, we document that tendencies to reciprocate transgressions are independent of citizens’ affective polarization levels. Thematic analyses of open responses (N = 907) reveal that many justify reciprocal transgressions as morally necessary to restore fairness and protect democracy. As such, our findings highlight the need for an interactive approach that captures the dynamic and morally complex nature of citizens’ attitudes towards democratic violations.