現在全球有許多國家之政治制度正邁向民主制度,台灣在1987年開始轉型為民主制度,並在1996年開始第一次由人民直選之總統大選。台灣政治制度完全轉型後,日後便希望目前之民主制度能夠更為鞏固。過去經常利用人民之民主態度來衡量民主制度之表現為如何,民主態度包括人民對台灣政治表現的滿意度,以及人民對民主制度的偏好,即所謂之「民主滿意度」及「民主支持度」。 影響人民之民主態度的因素有許多,過去較少文獻研究個體經濟因素與民主態度之影響。故本文主要利用個人所得及相關之非經濟因素來研究其因素對民主滿意度及民主支持度的影響變化為何。採用中研院提供之三年份(2000年、2005年、及2010年)問卷資料,並利用ordered probit models進行統計分析。 研究結果發現相對所得比較高的人之民主態度比較高,相對於低所得者來看,中所得者之民主滿意度比較高,而高所得者之民主支持度比較高。此外,除了個人相對所得之外,尚有其他非經濟因素足以影響個人之民主態度,如教育、社會機會、公民力量、及黨派偏好等。
As many other countries in the world that move toward democratic political regime, Taiwan began its transition to democracy in 1987 and held its first presidential election in 1996. Now, Taiwan’s political regime has been totally transformed, and it is well expected that democratic consolidation is under way. In most previous literature, people’s attitude toward democracy is often used as a measure of the performance of a country’s democratic political system. In this sense, the attitude toward democracy includes satisfaction with democracy and support for democracy. The satisfaction with democracy represents what people think about democracy in their country, and the support for democracy means what people think about democratic regime compared to other regimes. Earlier studies have documented that people’s attitudes toward democracy are affected by various factors, which include economic factors, such as economic growth, inflation and unemployment, as well as non-economic factors such as social and culture values embedded in a country. However, very few studies aim at investigating relative economic position in affecting people’s attitude toward democracy. This study intends to examine this relationship by using data from there waves of Taiwan Social Change Survey (2000, 2005, and 2010). Using ordered probit estimations, the empirical results from this study show that higher income leads to a more positive attitude toward democracy. Compared to the low-income people, high-income individuals are more supportive for democracy, and people with a medium-level income are more satisfied with democracy. Moreover, we find that non-economic factors (social opportunity, civil force, and partisan preferences) also have strong effects on the attitude toward democracy.