“Do Voters Have a Preference for an Opposition?” Itamar Yakir, Yale

AMERICAN POLITICS & PUBLIC POLICY WORKSHOP

Abstract: The design of political institutions is essential for democracy and social stability, but formal structures alone may not suffice. Specifically, they may not capture the public’s preferences regarding power-sharing and the role of opposition. This study examines voters’ preferences for distributing power in the U.S. House of Representatives, addressing whether citizens hold systematic views about the ideal balance of political forces. Using a novel seat allocation task, we find that American voters are generally willing to allocate between one-quarter and one-third of House seats to the rival party. Moderates exhibit greater willingness to share power, but even strong partisans support a meaningful opposition presence. Experimental interventions demonstrate that voters’ generosity increases when their party holds other branches of government. The leading explanations associated with more generous allocations are fair representation and balancing power, while a more partisan approach is associated with lower generosity. These findings contribute to research on voter decision-making, polarization, and the quantification of preferences, revealing that while electoral behavior may obscure these preferences, they remain relevant for political attitudes and institutional design. (Joint work with Alan Gerber)

Itamar Yakir is a postdoctoral associate with the Democratic Innovations program at ISPS. Previously, he has been a researcher at the Center for Governance and the Economy, at the Israel Democracy Institute. he holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy from the School of Public Policy and Governance, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He studies political economy, political behavior and public policy, and has a special interest in intergroup relations, and specifically how hate and conflict might originate in misperceptions of reality, such misperceptions might affect various political and economic outcomes. His work has been published in AJPS and Public Choice.

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