Corruption perceptions, opposition parties, and reelecting incumbents in Latin America.

In Latin America, corruption often fails to turn voters against incumbents at the ballot box. We build on existing studies asking why and argue that voters are more likely not to reelect an incumbent with poor corruption performance when they have an ideologically viable opposition alternative. We test this with AmericasBarometer survey data for eighteen Latin American countries from 2008 to 2014. We find that respondents who are ideologically close to the incumbent are more likely to intend to vote against corruption when they are ideologically proximate to an opposition alternative. We corroborate these findings and demonstrate causality in the relationship with a survey experiment in Mexico. We conclude that the existence of an ideologically viable alternative increases voters' probability of voting against incumbents perceived to be involved in corruption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]