Who is willing to participate? Dissatisfied democrats, stealth democrats and populists in the United Kingdom

This article demonstrates that two quite distinctive types of political disaffection – ‘dissatis?ed democratic’ and ‘stealth democratic’ – exist among British citizens, with the former being more prevalent. While both types manifest low trust in political elites, the dissatis?ed democrat is politically interested, ef?cacious and desires greater political participation, while the contrary is generally true of the stealth democrat. However, stealth demo- crats are favourably disposed towards direct democracy, which can be attributed to the populist nature of stealth democratic attitudes. Even so, when given the opportunity to take part in a national referendum, neither stealth democrats nor dissatis?ed democrats showed much inclination to vote.