Digging to the Roots: Populist Attitudes and Personality Traits

• In Event: New Research on Spanish and Portuguese Politics

Abstract

Research on populism tends to be focused either on conceptual issues, or on the supply side of populism. On the contrary, the demand side of populism remains largely neglected – particularly in contexts that were exceptionally immune to populism. A specific dimension that has been neglected relates to the effect of personality traits on citizen’s support for populism, which are based on characteristics that manifest and developed very early in life and remain mostly unchanged (Mondak & Halperin, 2008).

Using the Big Five Personality Traits model (McCrae & John, 1992), and a representative sample of the Portuguese population, this paper analysis the relationship between populist attitudes and the personality traits, considering the Portuguese case. For a long time, Portugal was considered an exceptional case, as it went without populist representation for much longer than most European countries (De Giorgi & Cancela, 2021). This particularity is explained by a set of factors, such as the legacy of the Estado Novo (Salgado, 2019), and the important role played by the radical left in channelling popular discontent in moments of economic crisis (De Giorgi & Cancela, 2021; Lisi & Borghetto, 2018; Lisi et al., 2019). However, in October 2019, the radical-right populist CH managed to elect its first parliamentarian, and in 2022 the party rose to become the third largest in parliament with 12 MP, thus putting an end to the Portuguese exceptionalism.

Controlling for political efficacy, party identification, and socio-demographic characteristics, the paper concludes that those who support populism tend to be more extroverted, conscientious and neurotic, as well as less agreeable and less open to experience. In addition, such citizens tend to have low political efficacy, and tend to be male and older. Thus, this paper deepens the understanding of individual’s support for populism and introduces personality traits into the debate of populism.

Authors

• Patricia Silva, University of Aveiro

• Nuno Gil Soares, Universidade de Aveiro