Socio-economic status and political support in post-communist Romania

How is socio-economic status linked to political support? The analysis of a Romanian national probability sample suggests that there are two distinct and opposite routes. On the one hand, status is positively associated to political support, via well-being and, on the other hand, it is negatively associated to political support, probably via expectations and values. Whereas the negative route implies that upper status Romanians are more critical of current politics without questioning democratic principles, the positive route reveals that Romanians’ discontent erodes not only trust in political actors but also more diffuse levels of political support, and leads to positive attitudes toward communism.