Populist Propaganda in Hybrid Regimes: Does it Work?

• In Event: Populist Parties and Voters in Comparative Perspective

Abstract

Populist leaders invoke a variety of appeals to elicit popular support for a variety of policies that erode democratic institutions. How effective are these appeals in shaping voters' support for these policies? Are 'thick' or 'thin' populist appeals more effective? In this paper, we report the results of a survey experiment embedded in a nationally representative survey fielded in Hungary in 2019. We show that both thick and thin populist appeals only affect the preferences of core supporters of the regime, but leave the preferences of opponents or weakly aligned voters unchanged.

Authors

• Isabela Mares, Yale University

• Ana Bracic, Michigan State University