Socio-Economic Insecurity and Voting for a Populist Radical Right Party

My research examines the feeling of socio-economic insecurity among the voters of radical right (RR) parties. Much research has already been done regarding the feeling of physical insecurity among the RR electorate. Nevertheless, there are only a few studies, which focus socio-economic insecurity. According to the winner-loser cleavage (Kriesi et al. 2008), there is a significant connection between occupational status and the vote for a RR party. Moreover, Kayser (2007) argues that globalization results in downward pressure on the wages of unskilled labor and a consequent rise in income inequality. Hence, socio-economic insecurity is a rising concern for blue-collar workers, the core constituents of RR parties (Scheve and Slaughter 2004, Mughan et al. 2003). Using data from the 6th wave of the World Value Survey, I examine the intensity of this feeling among RR voters as well as the extent to which this matters for their vote choice.