Reconceptualizing Right-Wing Extremist Measurement and Operationalization in the United States

• In Event: Innovations in Survey Design and Analysis

Abstract

Right-wing extremism (RWE) threatens democratic institutions globally, but empirical understanding of its core ideological components remains limited. Using 2024 General Social Survey data, this study examines the prevalence of anti-democratic sentiment in the United States. Previous literature suggests inadequate construct conceptualization and significant operational limitations. This study builds on Mudde’s (1995) model of right-wing extremism, Carter’s (2018) conceptualization, and DeLint and Praino’s (2022) measurement to address current literature gaps and methodological limitations. Preliminary findings indicate that nationalist orientations, particularly regarding race, function predictively for authoritarianism and anti-democratic sentiment, and factor analysis and multi-variate regression modeling demonstrate that previous measurement approaches are ineffective at predicting how RWE manifests in American society. This study proposes refined operationalizations that emphasize immigration, status-legitimizing ideologies, and opposition to equality across multiple axes. Results also indicate the need for structural interventions addressing the material conditions that make RWE ideology resonant beyond addressing individual attitudes.

Author

• Winter Johnson, West Virginia University