Data Brief on Public Administration and Democratic Legitimacy

How does perceived bureaucratic performance shape democratic legitimacy? Drawing on the 2024 EQI survey of 135,000+ respondents in 210 EU regions, we study the link between evaluations of local administration (quality, impartiality, corruption) and two outcomes: vote intention for populist parties and abstention, using multi level logit models. Across all specifications, higher perceived quality of government is associated with lower support for populist parties. At the same time, improvements in perceived quality are linked to a modest rise in abstention. The findings underscore the importance of high quality subnational governance for democratic attitudes and behaviour but also point to a trade-off: improving administration quality may lower demand for anti systemic/populist parties but can also slightly depress participation. However, to the degree that this small reduction in turnout also implies decreasing demand for populist or anti-establishment options this is not necessarily a finding that is concerning from a democratic legitimacy perspective.