How the traumatic past influences the vote of the populist radical right parties in Germany, Poland, and Spain

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Abstract
Populist Radical Right Parties (PRRPs) often mobilize referring to the past. This aspect is not commonly included amongst the characteristic elements of these parties and, more importantly, we do not know much about the electoral returns of this strategy. In this article, we focus on three PRRPs – AfD in Germany, PiS in Poland and VOX in Spain – to argue that the conflicts of the past play a prominent role in their recent mobilizing strategies. By analysing comparative survey data gathered in early 2020 as part of the H2020 REPAST Project we show that opinions about the past that are in consonance with the parties’ discourses have a positive influence on the support they get in elections. These effects are independent of other factors associated with populist voting, but they are contingent on the internal/external nature of the conflicts of the past that each of the parties appeals to. Our findings lead us to think that the use of the past is a key component of the electoral success of more parties of this kind.
Funding Information
  • European Commission (769252)

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