It’s the Moral Economy, Stupid! Anger Toward Economic Inequality and Populist Voting

Abstract The present study sets out to investigate the mechanism by which ordinary citizens are moved to anger toward economic inequality, and its political consequences. Since anger toward economic inequality is triggered by the perception that core distributive norms have been violated, it is argued that this emotional response mainly benefits political parties who defend redistributive values and establish clear responsibility for their violation. Results from twenty-six ISSP countries provide strong evidence that angry citizens are more inclined to vote for economically progressive populist parties and for economically progressive pluralist parties than for parties taking conservative stances on economic issues. This study thus lends empirical support to the assumption that populist parties attract angry voters by speaking the language of moral economy.