Comparing the Support of Radical Right Parties in Europe

The differences and similarities between the radical right electorate in Eastern and Western Europe are generally understudied. The usual approach to the study of the radical right is to focus on either radical right electorate (or parties) in Western or in Eastern Europe, assuming that the respective radical right parties and their electoral support are distinctly different phenomena explicable by means of different theoretical frameworks. While not discarding this assumption a priori, the paper seeks to focus on economic, social and attitudinal characteristics of radical right electorate and to compare voters of radical right parties in Eastern and Western Europe. The European Social Survey enables the comparison of these countries and their respective electorate. This survey comprises large number of relevant attitudinal and socio-economic variables while also being conducted in several waves. This allows for the various types of analytical approaches and possible methodologies. Structural equation modeling enables understanding of how support for radical right is formed and what are the crucial dimensions of radical right electorate. On the other hand, multilevel modeling enables the comparison of radical right electorate across states. In addition, I combine this analysis with my previous research on parties and analyze if the various types of radical right parties are related to the certain types of voter profiles. The result of the analysis is pinpointing the aspects (particularly attitudinal) which travel across east/west divide while also identifying both attitudinal and socio-economic features which are distinct across these regions.