Existential Rhetoric Depresses Turnout

When both sides repeatedly brand ordinary elections as 'life‑or‑death' battles, voters learn the message is performative and may stop participating; repeated theatricalization of politics thus risks lowering turnout and eroding democratic accountability even as policy differences shrink. The Sweden 2026 contest — high‑stakes rhetoric, incumbents in power, and one of the country's lowest post‑war turnouts — illustrates this dynamic. — If true, the trend suggests polarization-by-spectacle can hollow elections, reducing electoral accountability and making governance less responsive.