The Relationship between Perceived Representation and Populist Attitudes

• In Event: Populist Attitudes in Comparative Perspective

Abstract

The rise of populism is often linked to representation gaps. Due to endogeneity between populism and perceptions of representation, this has been hard to test. We use an experiment manipulating voters’ perceptions of representation in order to identify their causal effect on populist sentiment on representative samples from 12 European countries (n = 24000). Respondents are first asked to state their preference on two EU policy issues. Next, they read a vignette about how major parties have sorted themselves on it during the European elections, which can indicate either that at least one party has taken the respondent’s position on that issue, or that no party has done so. We also vary whether parties have all taken the same position, or if they assumed different views from each other, and follow with questions on populist attitudes. These treatments affect representation in two ways: a) parties hold diverse positions, and b) at least one party advocates a position close to the respondent's. Results are the first causal test of whether the cartelisation of European parties contributed to recent populist successes.

Authors

• Bruno de Paula Castanho Silva, University of Cologne

• Christopher Wratil, University College London