ObjectiveWe examine the relationship between citizens’ evaluations of democratic performance in their state of residence and demographic, political, and institutional factors.MethodsWe fielded two original surveys (summer 2021 and summer 2022) that asked respondents to evaluate democratic performance in their state both in general and for specific metrics.ResultsCitizens who identify with the political party that controls state government have more positive evaluations of state democratic performance while Republicans (controlling for a litany of covariates) have more negative evaluations. Strikingly, citizens’ perceptions are not related to an objective measure of state democratic performance even when they are primed with information about where their state ranks in a survey experiment.ConclusionCitizens’ assessments of democratic quality appear to be yet another feature of American politics that has become politicized and polarized, with important implications for system support and legitimacy going forward.

中文翻译：

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公民对美国各州民主质量的看法

目的我们研究公民对其居住州的民主表现的评估与人口、政治和制度因素之间的关系。方法我们进行了两项原始调查（2021 年夏季和 2022 年夏季），要求受访者总体评估其所在州的民主表现结果认同控制州政府的政党的公民对州民主表现有更积极的评价，而共和党人（控制一连串协变量）则有更多负面评价。引人注目的是，即使公民在调查实验中了解了有关其州排名的信息，他们的看法也与国家民主表现的客观衡量标准无关。结论公民对民主质量的评估似乎是美国政治的另一个特征，变得政治化和两极分化，对未来的体系支持和合法性产生重要影响。