Young European voters are increasingly identifying with right-wing populist and nationalist parties ahead of the June 6-9 European Parliament elections, according to analysis conducted by POLITICO Europe. The surge in support for these parties, which predominantly oppose mass legal and illegal immigration, could portend a serious shift in the European Union‘s approach to the ongoing migrant crisis across the continent.
Young voters have apparently established parity with the so-called “Boomer” generation in terms of backing “anti-immigration and anti-establishment parties” in Belgium, France, Portugal, Germany, and Finland. In the Netherlands, the anti-establishment Freedom Party led by Geert Wilders was swept into leadership of a coalition government on a campaign tying high housing costs to unchecked immigration. This message saw a significant appeal among young voters in the country.
Like the Freedom Party in the Netherlands, Portugal’s populist and nationalist Chega rode a wave of youth votes to power. Again, like in the Dutch elections, the political right in Portugal found connecting mass immigration with the country’s housing crisis a formidable campaign message.
The Greens and other left-leaning parties are losing ground among young voters in Germany and Finland. Increasingly, young males in both European countries are backing parties that oppose mass immigration and support the preservation of native customers and cultures. Meanwhile, young female voters are increasingly scattered among various political movements, causing a dilution of support among left-wing political parties.
“AfD in Germany doesn’t even have to grow to become the largest because [the Socialists] and the [Christian Democrats] will naturally shrink, and the young voters are scattered across all parties,” said Dutch political researcher Josse de Voogd, in a recent interview. Meanwhile, in France, the National Rally — a nationalist political party — sits at 32 percent support among 18-to-25-year-olds, partly on the leadership of 28-year-old Jordan Bardella.
