Populist Radical Right Voting Behaviour of Unemployed Individuals During the Great Recession in Europe

Left-wing parties are generally the parties that are best at championing social security issues and more inclusive social safety nets, which is why it is usually argued that those people experiencing feelings of economic insecurity will steer towards a vote for a left-wing political party. Unemployed people, in other words, are expected to vote for a leftist party, as they are experiencing feelings of economic insecurity due to the fact that they find themselves without an income. Furthermore, in times of economic recession or hardship, these feelings of economic insecurity will increase further and will in turn, according to this line of thinking, lead to an increase in left-wing voting. However, over the years scholars have pointed out that instead of a move towards the left, unemployed people have shown a move towards the populist radical right (PRR), including during times of economic recession, because they feel immigrants are taking over their jobs, leading to a vote for an anti-immigration party, an issue championed most often by PRR parties. To investigate this possible relationship between unemployment and PRR voting, this study looks at round 6 of the European Social Survey, focusing on voting behaviour in several European countries during the Great Recession. By focusing on this specific time period, this article will try to study whether those who find themselves unemployed during these times of economic hardship are in fact more likely to vote for populist rightist parties, and whether this likelihood increases with higher unemployment rates.