Motivational underpinnings of support for radical political leaders

Abstract

The present research examined the idea that followers are more strongly motivated by radical as opposed to moderate political leaders. We derived this idea from the significance quest theory that posits that a desire to feel important and meaningful is one of the fundamental human motives. We expected that voters would be more willing to support political actors when they perceived them as radical as opposed to moderate, because the goals of those radical actors would be more personally important for voters. Consequently, supporters would experience a greater sense of personal significance from supporting such goals, which would motivate them to get engaged on behalf of their candidates. In five studies (N = 2154), including two preregistered replications, spanning two US presidential elections (2016, 2020) and Polish parliamentary elections (2023), we found support for our predictions. The results showed that as followers perceived their candidates as more radical, they viewed the leaders' goals as more personally important, experienced a greater sense of personal significance, and expressed a higher willingness to make sacrifices for the candidates. These results contribute to the understanding of the appeal of radical political actors.