Scandal Fatigue: Scandal Elections and Satisfaction with Democracy in Western Europe 1977-2007

Abstract

We combine Eurobarometer surveys with contextual data from 19 countries and three decades, and find that elections are increasingly associated with major scandals. In the late 1970s few elections were associated with major scandals whereas today 40-50 percent are. Further, looking at the entire period, both recent and past scandal elections have had long-term negative (rather than positive) net effects on satisfaction with democracy. However, as scandals have become more common—at different rates in different countries—the once negative net effect has withered away. This “scandal fatigue syndrome” appears driven both by changes in the composition of scandal elections (multi-actor scandal elections still have negative effects but have not become more common), as well as by larger heterogeneity in effects (single-actor scandal elections used to be inconsequential but gradually assume positive effects as scandal elections become more common). The concluding section discusses possible interpretations and implications.