TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Feldhaus, Christoph
AU  - Reinhardt, Lukas
AU  - Sutter, Matthias
        TI  - Trump Ante Portas: Political Polarization Undermines Rule-Following Behavior
        PY  - 2024/Nov/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 17448
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/index.php/publications/dp17448
        AB  - In a democracy, it is essential that citizens accept rules and laws, regardless of which party is in power. We study why citizens in polarized societies resist rules implemented by political opponents. This may be due to the rules' specific content, but also because of a general preference against being restricted by political opponents. We develop a method to measure the latter channel. In our experiment with almost 1,300 supporters and opponents of Donald Trump, we show that polarization undermines rule-following behavior significantly, independent of the rules' content. Subjects perceive the intentions behind (identical) rules as much more malevolent if they were imposed by a political opponent rather than a political ally.
        KW  - political polarization
KW  - social identity
KW  - outgroup
KW  - economic preferences
KW  - experiment
        ER  -