When do voters abandon authoritarian parties and incumbents? We propose a theory according to which voters trade-off democratic principles for incumbent competence and their willingness to do so is increasing in the incumbent regime's economic performance. We evaluate this theory by examining the rise and decline of the AK Party in Turkey. We combine data on the support for AKP since its founding, a series of original survey experiments, and a case study of the 2019 Istanbul municipal election. Our findings improve our understanding of when and why voters defect from authoritarians they have previously supported.