Vol. 17(3)- Replication Data for: Searching for Bright Lines in the Trump Presidency

Is American democracy under threat? The question is more prominent in political debate now than at any time in recent memory. However, it is also too blunt; there is widespread recognition that democracy is multifaceted and that backsliding, when it occurs, tends to be piecemeal. To address these concerns, we provide original data from surveys of political science experts and the public measuring the perceived importance and performance of U.S. democracy on a number of dimensions during the first year and a half of the Trump presidency. We draw on a theory of how politicians may transgress limits on their authority and the conditions under which constraints are self-enforcing. We connect this theory to our survey data in an effort to identify potential areas of agreement – bright lines – among experts and the public about the most important democratic principles and whether they have been violated. Public and expert perceptions often differ on the importance of specific democratic principles. In addition, though our experts perceive substantial democratic erosion, particularly in areas related to checks and balances, polarization between Trump supporters and opponents undermines any social consensus recognizing these violations.美国民主是否正面临威胁？当前，这一议题在政治辩论中的受关注程度，远超近年记忆中的任何时刻。但该问题本身过于笼统；学界与公众普遍认为，民主具有多维度属性，而民主倒退一旦发生，往往呈现渐进式的特征。为回应上述关切，我们依托针对政治学专家与公众开展的调查所获原始数据，针对特朗普执政头一年半期间的美国民主状况，从多个维度衡量公众与专家对其重要性的认知及运行表现。我们借鉴了一套关于政治主体如何逾越权力边界、以及权力约束如何实现自我执行的理论模型，并将该理论与本次调查数据相结合，旨在厘清专家与公众在核心民主原则及其是否遭破坏这一议题上的潜在共识，即所谓的"明确红线"。针对特定民主原则的重要性，公众与专家的认知往往存在分歧。此外，尽管专家群体认为美国民主已出现显著滑坡，尤其是在权力制衡相关领域，但特朗普支持者与反对者之间的政治极化，消解了社会对上述民主原则遭破坏的普遍共识。