Are Citizens Vigilant of Changing the Balance of Power? Testing Evaluations of Checks and Balances Reforms

Democratic checks and balances are crucial accountability mechanisms that prevent the abuse of power and protect citizens. Thus, citizens committed to democratic principles should be vigilant of reforms changing the balance of power. Using a mixed-design survey experiment with Polish citizens, this article investigates whether citizens are more vigilant of reform proposals that alter democratic checks and balances than other reforms. It also tests the effects of party cues on the intentions assigned to reformers proposing to alter democratic rules. The results show that (1) the in-party supporters evaluated the intentions to reform checks and balances as benign, whereas the out-party supporters were more vigilant and saw them as malicious; (2) participants were less vigilant of an administrative reform and evaluated it as less ill-intended; (3) these effects held across supporters of different political parties—both incumbent and opposition. Overall, citizens are rather vigilant of changing democratic checks and balances.