What unites the voter bases of populist parties? Comparing the electorates of 15 populist parties

Abstract

Various scholars have argued and demonstrated that Western European populist parties have something in common. Although these parties adhere to various ideologies and employ different organizational forms and political styles, they all endorse a similar set of ideas concerning the relationship between the people and the elite. Yet despite our increasing knowledge about these parties, so far we know only very little about populist voters. Do the voter bases of populist parties also have something in common? To answer that question, I focus on the electorates of 15 prototypical populist parties from 11 Western European countries. I show that, in contrast with widely held beliefs, the electorates of populist parties do not always consist of individuals who are more likely to be 'losers of globalization' with Eurosceptic attitudes, low levels of political trust, and preferences for (more) direct democracy. This suggests that 'the' populist voter does not exist.

Euroscepticism among Dutch Leftist and Rightist Populist Constituencies: How can the U‐Curve be Understood?

“…one, while ethnocentrism drives the vote for a rightist populist party and not a leftist one (cf. Akkerman et al, 2017;Rooduijn, 2018;Rooduijn et al, 2017). Nevertheless, while euroscepticism proved to be part of the latter link, it does not play a role in the former, indicating that euroscepticism is not driven by economic concerns.…”

“…Turning to the differences, our study replicated earlier research in demonstrating that economic egalitarianism drives voting for a leftist populist party and not for a rightist one, while ethnocentrism drives the vote for a rightist populist party and not a leftist one ( cf . Akkerman et al, ; Rooduijn, ; Rooduijn et al, ). Nevertheless, while euroscepticism proved to be part of the latter link, it does not play a role in the former, indicating that euroscepticism is not driven by economic concerns.…”

State of the field: How to study populism and adjacent topics? A plea for both more and less focus

“…Such parties conceive of ‘the people’ in a much more inclusionary way, and are not nativist at all. In fact, in many cases the lower educated are not more likely to vote for such parties (Rooduijn ). Hence, the fact that lower educated citizens vote for radical right‐wing populist parties has not much to do with these parties’ populism.…”

When less is more: On politicians’ attitudes to remuneration

“…The Danish political parties included in our study are, obviously, unique to the Danish context, but it is important to note that the differences between these specific parties were to a high degree explained by the ideological left–right scale, which plays a key role almost universally across political contexts (Arian and Shamir ). Likewise, political populism, in our case right‐wing populism, is also a highly general phenomenon in modern politics (Rooduijn ), and future studies of politicians’ attitudes towards pay may therefore also want to investigate this phenomenon.…”