In the past decade a substantial body of research has documented democratic backsliding along with widening elite mass perception gaps. The aim of this study is to examine how South Carolina Legislators perceive democratic backsliding, and to compare this with citizen perceptions. This would help assess elite mass perception gaps, where they occur, and how perceptual democratic health is upheld in the current geopolitical climate. To address and respond to this question a survey derived from the INternational IDEA's Values of Democracy Expert Survey was administered to South Carolina citizens and legislators. Responses were coded on a five point Likert scale. These results were averaged and then assessed for general trends and statistical significance using a Mann-Whitney U Test. Results showed that legislators consistently rated democracy more positively than citizens across all indicators and substantially overestimated government accountability. Of the sixteen indicators analyzed, ten showed statistically significant differences, indicating systematic disagreement and perceptual inconsistency. Institutional role was not the only factor with an impact, as political party and partisan identity also caused divides. Republicans were much more likely to rate democracy as healthy with thirteen out of sixteen indicators showing a statistically significant difference by party. Overall, the findings demonstrate large divergences in democratic perception based on both institutional role and partisan identity. Overall, politicians and citizens have different views on democracy with politicians typically being much more optimistic.
