Centrist anti-establishment parties and their protest voters: More than a superficial romance?

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Authors

New centrist anti-establishment parties (CAPs) are successful competitors in Central and Eastern Europe. Due to their emphasis on anti-establishment rhetoric and a moderate ideological platform, their breakthrough is usually explained by voters' dissatisfaction with existing parties. However, little is known about the ideological component of their support. Expectations on the impact of ideology on vote choice in the protest voting literature range from 'pure protest voting', which denies any impact of ideology, to a more moderate approach, which combines protest and ideological considerations. Using survey data, I confirm that CAPs attract voters with lower levels of political trust, but ideology also matters. The degree of ideological sorting, however, varies. While some CAPs mainly attract voters from one side of the political spectrum, others attract voters from the left to the right more equally. The differences in the initial composition of their electorates have implications for the parties' future.

Original languageEnglish
JournalEuropean Political Science Review
Volume12
Issue number3
Pages (from-to)307-325
Number of pages19
ISSN1755-7739
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 01.08.2020
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright: © European Consortium for Political Research 2020.

    Research areas

  • Central, Centrist anti-establishment parties, Eastern Europe, Ideological voting, New parties, Protest voting
  • Politics