Instrumental Support for Democratic Norms

Conventional wisdom in the press has held that the Democratic party, whose base includes younger, marginal voters, benefits electorally from lower costs of voting. The issue of voting access is highly polarized, with Democratic politicians championing reforms that would make it easier to register and vote, and Republican politicians opposing these policies on the ground that they would lead to fraudulent voting. Mass partisans reflect this divide as well. To what degree is the difference in partisan support for increased access to voting reflective of instrumental concerns over which party benefits, rather than principled belief in expanding access to voting? We conduct an experiment to test this question, leveraging a recent shift in the propensity of Democrats to excel in low-turnout elections and the changing composition of unregistered voters. We present respondents with information to update their beliefs about who benefits from laws making it easier to register to vote in