Compulsory Voting Diminishes the Relationship between Winning and Satisfaction with Democracy.

A robust body of research demonstrates that those who vote for electoral winners are most satisfied with democracy. In addition, a growing stream of literature shows that compulsory voting affects vote choices, attitudes, and emotions. Drawing insights from both literatures, I theorize that the relationship between winning and satisfaction with democracy is weaker for compelled voters. I test my theory with two separate studies. In study 1, I leverage a natural experiment whereby individuals are quasi-randomly assigned to compulsory voting on the basis of their birth date. Results show that compulsory voting causes the size of the relationship between winning and satisfaction to decrease. In study 2, I harness postelection survey data from several dozen countries. Results show that the association between voting for winners and satisfaction with democracy is weaker in countries where nonvoters are subject to penalties, especially among citizens who are less likely to turn out volitionally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]