Will populist parties gain ground during this week’s European Parliament elections? Radical right-wing parties are polling well, but how will they fare now that the economy is picking up in Europe? Their success in the elections is a test of the conventional wisdom that economic crisis breeds radical politics.
Our research gives reason for doubt.
We tracked a representative group of 8,000 Dutch citizens through the financial crisis, recording year-to-year changes in their income and political attitudes from 2007 to 2015. We find some signs that people hit by the financial crisis turned to the populist left. But we find no evidence that people personally affected by the crisis are drawn to the radical right. Neither did they become more supportive of anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies. CONT.
Jonathan Mijs & Noam Gidron, Monkey Cage