Who Can Assert Ownership Over Automation? Workplace Technological Change, Populist and Ethno-nationalist Rhetoric, and Candidate Support

Abstract

Technological change has dramatically reshaped labour markets, but technology’s distributional implications have to date been less politicized than other economic shocks. However, as technological advances accelerate, political parties may face growing incentive to "claim" the issue. Candidates proposing to protect workers against technological change may appeal directly to workers’ economic concerns, but if technology is perceived similarly to other economic shocks, workers may also be mobilized through populist and ethno-nationalist appeals. This paper asks: compared to other shocks, what kind of messaging around workplace technological change resonates with voters? We examine this question through a ten-country survey experiment that randomizes respondents into reading about a candidate proposing to protect workers against offshoring, automation and AI, or changing consumer demand, using either populist rhetoric, populist and ethno-nationalist rhetoric, or no additional messaging. We find that overall support for protecting workers against technology is lower than for other shocks, but that all types of candidate messaging appeals to workers who feel vulnerable to technology.