How do citizens react to different patterns of partisan competition over democracy, including parties’ strategies of democratic defense? Recent scholarship has devoted considerable attention to voters’ responses to candidates’ undemocratic behavior. But comparatively less attention has been paid to citizens’ support for par-
ties’ efforts to defend democratic institutions. This paper draws on theoretical and empirical work on strategies to curb authoritarianism and examines how citizens evaluate alternative defensive approaches. Using a pre-registered candidate-choice conjoint experiment conducted in Spain, Portugal, and Italy—three countries that
have recently experienced the rise of anti-pluralist parties—I assess public support for distinct forms of democratic defense. Preliminary results reveal moderate and heterogeneous effects across strategies, highlighting the strategic dilemmas parties face when democracy becomes a contested issue.