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Recent studies on political trust during the Covid-19 pandemic diagnosed a rally around the flag effect, leading to exceptionally high levels of trust in politics. While this finding has been established over various country-contexts, our understanding of the precise dynamics behind the rally effect remains limited. In this paper, we argue that health and economic risks, as well as partisanship condition the rally effect. Using individual-level panel data from the Netherlands, covering the time before and during the first Covid-19 wave, we show that the rally effect is particularly pronounced among older individuals, while it is absent among the young. Furthermore, we find a catch-up effect among the more distrusting part of the population, such as populist supporters and low-income earners, who largely drive the rally effect. This leads to a convergence of trust across different ideational and economic subpopulations, providing for a silver lining during otherwise turbulent times.

Research on differentiated integration has paid considerable attention to its causes. However, we know very little about its consequences. Using the synthetic control method and interactive factor models, this article investigates the effects of differentiated integration on citizens’ support for the EU. We find that in cases where member states are granted an opt-out or are allowed to integrate into a policy area they were previously excluded from, support increases. In contrast, support decreases when member states are not granted a requested opt-out or are excluded from a policy area they would like to join. These findings carry important implications for the EU's legitimacy. While differentiated integration has the potential to enhance citizens’ legitimacy perceptions, it can also undermine them simultaneously.

Recent research points to a re-emergence of the urban-rural cleavage in Europe. Yet, existing work does not account for the affective mechanisms that make geographic divides relevant for politics to begin with. In this paper, we introduce the concept of place-based affect, proposing that like and dislike across the urban-rural divide provides a powerful explanation for Europe’s electoral geography, particularly for identity-based conflicts, such as the cosmopolitan-nationalist cleavage. We argue that urban place-based affect increases the likelihood to vote for cosmopolitan parties, while rural place-based affect draws voters to nationalist parties. Relying on original survey data from Germany, we show that individuals from rural places, who like their own kind, but dislike city people, are more inclined to vote for nationalist parties. In con-trast, urbanites, liking city people and disliking people from rural areas, tend to vote more cos-mopolitan.

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