Milan Svolik Asks: Do Voters Really Support Democracy?

Milan Svolik Asks: Do Voters Really Support Democracy?

From Democracy Paradox by Justin Kempf

March 18, 2026 · 1h 1m · Season 2 · Episode 14

About this episode

Milan Svolik discusses the complexities of voter support for democracy with host Justin Kempf.

We are badly mismeasuring whether and how much people care about democracy. Milan Svolik In this episode of the Democracy Paradox, host Justin Kempf speaks with political scientist Milan Svolik, the Elizabeth S. & A. Varick Stout Professor of Political Science at Yale University and author of The Politics of Authoritarian Rule. Their conversation explores one of the central puzzles in contemporary democracy: why citizens who say they strongly support democracy sometimes vote for politicia...

People in this episode

Host: Justin Kempf

Guest: Milan Svolik

Topics covered

  • democracy
  • voting behavior
  • political science
  • citizen support
  • authoritarianism

Keywords

  • democracy
  • voters
  • political science
  • Milan Svolik
  • authoritarian rule

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Yale University

Books & works: The Politics of Authoritarian Rule

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