Life Dissatisfaction and the Right-Wing Populist Vote: Evidence from the European Social Survey

Abstract

This study identifies life dissatisfaction and related political attitudes as predictors of right-wing populist voting in Europe. Using survey data from 14 countries (2012–2018, N = 54,263), we find that life dissatisfaction links to negative attitudes on immigration and, in many countries, also to political distrust, and relates through these attitudes to a right-wing populist vote. By proposing a well-being framework to explain right-wing populist demand, we broaden the focus of discontent taken in previous research on psychological antecedents of populism. We suggest that low subjective well-being among the electorate has political relevance and could become a threat to the future of liberal democracy.