Just under one-third of Europeans – 32 percent – have started voting for both left-wing and right-wing populist political parties over the past several years as trust in establishment parties has plummeted, according to a recent analysis conducted across 31 countries.
Right-wing populist parties in particular “have really broadened their voter base and are forging coalitions of voters with very different concerns,” argues Daphne Halikiopoulou, comparative political scientist at the University of York and a PopuList co-author.
Europe has witnessed electoral success for populists in countries across the continent, including Sweden, the Netherlands, France, Austria, Germany, Italy, Poland, Hungary, and Spain, with a number of those going to the national polls within the next 12 months.
The share of the vote for populist parties has skyrocketed in recent years, as only 20 percent of Europeans voted for anti-establishment parties in the early 2000s, with even fewer in the 1990s, at just 12 percent. The researchers highlight a number of current political trends as the contributing factors, such as mass uncontrolled immigration from the third world, climate change – all but accepted as sacrosanct by the political mainstream – and other “culture war” issues.
Despite some fluctuation in the vote share, “the underlying trend is the numbers keep rising,” argues Matthijs Rooduijn, a political scientist at the University of Amsterdam, who led the research.
“Mainstream parties are losing votes; anti-establishment parties are gaining,” Rooduijn added.
Recent polling similarly found that right-wing populist parties are also expected to make major gains in next year’s European elections.
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