Goedkoop populisme?

In these times, populist parties have become increasingly popular. The idea within populism is that the elite gets less power and citizens will get more power. In this study populism is defined as a political communication style, which emphasize the closeness of politicians with the people. The basis feature of populism as a communication style is: anti-elite. Other features that enhance populism are: voluntarism, a popular style and charisma. The Socialist Party (SP) and the Party for Freedom (PVV) are considered to be populist parties. Especially in these parties, individual politicians are very important. They are a major reason that people vote for that party. This research focuses on the followers of the PVV and the SP. There are three focus groups held with PVV followers and three focus groups with SP followers. The respondents have seen two fragments of the PVV leader Geert Wilders and two fragments of the SP leader Roemer. The SP followers are more negative about Wilders than the PVV followers are about Roemer. The PVV followers acknowledge that the communication styles of Wilders and Roemer are almost the same, although they think that Wilders brings the message stronger than Roemer. The SP followers think that Roemer and Wilders have some similar characteristics. However, the SP followers do not think the communication style of both politicians is comparable, because they say that instead of the SP, the PVV has no ideals.