Left behind by the working class? Social Democracy’s Electoral Crisis and the Rise of the Radical Right

Social democratic parties in Western Europe have been experiencing an electoral decline of historic proportions in the first two decades of the twenty-first century. At the same time, radical right parties have been experiencing unprecedented electoral success. This has paved the way for a common narrative that claims that social democratic parties have lost their working-class voters to radical right parties either because of their shift to the right on the economic dimension (“Third Way”) or because of their shift to the left on the cultural dimension (“identity politics”). This narrative is wrong in both its assumptions and its assertions.

The working class in Western Europe in the twenty-first century is not a monolithic white male block with authoritarian and nationalist attitudes. A considerable and growing share of the working class is female and has a migration background. A large share of the working class holds progressive positions on questions such as LGBT rights and immigration.

The radical right is not the new home of former social democratic voters. While radical right parties have gained proportionally more support from working class voters, they should in no way be characterized as the new workers’ parties. Only a small proportion of the Western European working class supports the radical right. In addition, only a small proportion of radical right voters used to be supporters of social democratic parties.

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