Who populist voter are? Assessing the presence of common identities’ traits among populist voters in the European Union

Abstract

Political, economic and, now, health dynamics have caused and continue to cause a worsening of citizens’ living conditions within most of western democracies. The literature highlighted how this contributed to the increase of citizens’ frustration and the drop of their trust in democratic institutions. In this context, a populist upsurge has been registered among all western democracies. Established political parties, media and academics often tend to identify populist voters as merely less educated and ignorant citizens, but is this characterization correct and fully explaining the phenomenon? Who populist voters are? Are they united by common identities? And if it is so, what are the identities and belongings they share? The present paper answers these questions by tracing a profile of populist voters within European Union countries. The results show how populist voters show a statistically significant difference from non-populist ones when comparing demographic, economic, social values, political trust, and perceptions characteristics. However, the modest extent of these differences in most cases questions the effectiveness of the use of the concept of populism in distinguishing it as a political movement with its own transnational characteristics.