Political Cynicism and its Relationship with the Approval of Institutions in a Context of High Salience of Corruption in Peru

Abstract

Political Cynicism is a relevant concept to understand the generalised distrust that people have with the political institutions of a society. Specifically, in Peru, political cynicism is an interesting phenomenon considering the widespread corruption problem observed in different actors and political institutions throughout the country. In two quantitative studies, we analyse the psychometric properties of a Political Cynicism scale and its relationship with (1) people’s perception of different public institutions and (2) their voting behaviour in the 2016 general elections. Using data from a nationally representative sample (Study 1 n = 1246 and Study 2 n = 1134) we show that the Political Cynicism scale has a good psychometric fit and is composed of four dimensions that allow a better understanding of the phenomenon and the nature of Political Cynicism as a psychological construct. Finally, different relationships with the approval or disapproval of different political actors and institutions are shown. The results are discussed based on the psychopolitical theory of political distrust, as well as the characteristics of the Peruvian social and political context.