Who is a Good Citizen? Evidence From a Conjoint Experiment in Three Democracies

What does it mean to be a good citizen, and who can fulfill the obligations of citizenship? There is widespread agreement on how individuals understand how to perform good citizenship, with emphasis on behavioral and liberal democratic norms, but little work on who they think can or should perform it. It also remains unclear how growing polarization challenges this consensus, where divisions are reified along partisan lines. This paper uses a conjoint experiment in the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany to explore attributes and characteristics of good citizenship. It finds behavioral norms and liberal values, from voting to tolerance, remain essential to good citizenship across democracies. Yet, we observe variation by partisanship over who can be a good citizen, where right-wing party voters prefer Christian over Muslims and native-born over naturalized citizens in all three cases. It concludes by discussing the consequences of civic differentiation and hierarchy for democracy.