Gendering the vote for populist radical-right parties

Abstract

Why do more men than women vote for populist radical-right (PRR) parties? And do more men than women still vote for the PRR? Can attitudes regarding gender and gender equality explain these differences (if they exist)? These are the questions that Spierings and Zaslove explore in this article. They begin with an analysis of men's and women's voting patterns for PRR parties in seven countries, comparing these results with voting for mainstream (left-wing and right-wing) parties. They then examine the relationship between attitudes and votes for the populist radical right, focusing on economic redistribution, immigration, trust in the European Union, law and order, environmental protection, personal freedom and development, support for gender equality, and homosexuality. They conclude that more men than women do indeed support PRR parties, as many studies have previously demonstrated. However, the difference is often overemphasized in the literature, in part since it is examined in isolation and not compared with voting for (centre-right) mainstream parties. Moreover, the most important reasons that voters support PRR parties seem to be the same for men and for women; both vote for the populist radical right because of their opposition to immigration. In general, there are no consistent cross-country patterns regarding gender attitudes explaining differences between men and women. There are some recurring country-specific findings though. Most notably: first, among women, economic positions seem to matter less; and economically more left-wing (and those with anti-immigrant attitudes) women also vote for the PRR in Belgium, France, Norway and Switzerland; and, second, those who hold authoritarian or nativist views in combination with a strong belief that gays and lesbians should be able to 'live their lives as they choose' are disproportionately much more likely to vote for PRR parties in Sweden and Norway. Despite these findings, Spierings and Zaslove argue that the so-called 'gender gap' is often overemphasized. In other words, it appears that populist radical-right parties, with respect to sex and gender, are in many ways simply a more radical version of centreright parties.

‘Sexually modern nativist voters’: do they exist and do they vote for the populist radical right?

“…For instance, the aforementioned authors positioned their work in the Netherlands, a country known to be one of the more sexually tolerant countries, but Western countries actually display quite a strong variation in the granting of rights to and political discourses around sexual minorities (Van den Akker, Van der Ploeg, and Scheepers 2013). In their study on voting PRR, Spierings and Zaslove (2015a) only found hints of this mechanism for some of the countries included.…”

“…Perceiving migrants as possessing conflicting sexual norms could then actually be at the heart of anti-immigrant attitudes. Empirically, this is, for instance, reflected in the reinforcing impact of liberal sexual norms and anti-migration attitudes on voting for populist radical right in Norway and Sweden (Spierings and Zaslove 2015a).…”

“…8 If our contentions hold, we should find a positive coefficient for the sexually modern nativist group. In addition to the core variables, a set of common control variables is included (see Immerzeel 2015;Ivarsflaten 2008;Lubbers, Gijsberts, and Scheepers 2002;Rydgren 2008;Spierings and Zaslove 2015a). We included a set of dummies as a detailed classification of people's occupational position, distinguishing between the self-employed, professionally employed, clerically employed, service-sector employed, blue-collar employed, agricultural occupations, military, unemployed, other non-employed, and employed but unknown.…”

“…And, do the parties' positions play a role in a voter's decision to vote for PRR parties? One study suggests that, in Northern European countries, the PRR parties might actually disproportionally attract 'pro-gay, but anti-immigrant' voters (Spierings and Zaslove 2015a). However, little to no systematic research exists on either the role of attitudes towards…”

“…But the question is: does such a discourse resonate with voters? According to some unscientific Internet polls, Wilders' Party for Freedom (PVV) was the most popular among gay voters (see Spierings and Zaslove 2015a). Yet, at the same time, parties such as the Front National have been at the forefront of protests against legalizing same-sex marriage and less strict adoption laws (Akkerman 2015).…”