The Radical Right Gender Gap

Abstract

In this article, the author argues that a gender gap exists in the vote for the radical right and that this gender gap can be explained using techniques drawn from the literature on mainstream gender gaps. The analysis emphasizes the impact of the immigration issue on the vote for the radical right. Logit and regression analysis are used to determine what can be explained by structural, situational, and political factors versus gender alone in France, Germany, and Austria. It is found that there is a gender gap, but it varies across the three cases; that attitudes toward political issues, particularly immigration, have a disproportionate impact on the probability of voting radical right but not on the gender gap specifically; and that there is a difference between men and women on the immigration issue, and blue-collar workers are more likely to be anti-immigrant than those in other sectors.

Young people, parents and radical right voting. The Case of the Swiss People’s Party

“…Young males are, on average, more supportive of the SVP than young females. This corresponds with previous research with respect to extreme right support among adults (Givens, 2004;Gidengel et al, 2005). Speaking Italian considerably decreases the chance that a young person votes for the SVP.…”

“…Overall, 10.7 per cent of the party preference responses among fathers and 7.2 per cent among mothers were for the SVP (r ¼ .45). Hence, our data confirm the previous finding that women are less likely to vote for radical right parties in general and SVP in particular than men (Givens, 2004;Norris, 2005).…”

“…We made additional adjustments for the role of individual characteristics through the inclusion of age (M ¼ 20.8) and gender (48 per cent female) as control variables. Gender has been identified as a consistent predictor of radical right voting, as male voters are over-represented among the voters of the radical right parties, including the Swiss radical right (Fontana et al, 2006;Givens, 2004;Gidengel et al, 2005;Norris, 2005;Fontana et al, 2006).…”

“…Yet the research on SVP is relatively limited in the international (English) literature e McGann and Kitschelt (2005), Fontana et al (2006) and Oesch (2008) being notable exceptions e and it is often neglected in comparative analyses on the radical right (e.g. Arzheimer and Carter, 2006;Bale, 2003;Givens, 2004;Ignazi, 2003), despite it being one of the most successful radical right parties in Western Europe.…”

Revenge of the Radical Right

“…Although adverse economic conditions can certainly create grievances that may later facilitate the rise of radical parties and contribute to their survival, grievances are too static to explain cross-national volatility over time (Betz, 1994;Golder, 2003;Kitschelt & McGann, 1995;Swank & Betz, 2003;c.f. Arzeheimer, 2009:274;Givens 2004). …”