We the People or We the Peoples? A Comparison of Left- and Right-Wing Populists

Populism is one of the political buzzwords of the 21st century, leading to much attention and confusion in both the academic and public debate. However, we know surprisingly little about why voters support populist parties. There are some major problems with studies on the voting for populist. First, their focus is often not on populism per se. To be sure, support for populism is linked with low levels of trust and political satisfaction. However, the question that isn’t answered, is: are these good measures of the concept of populism? Do they actually answer the question of whether voters are populist? Second, these studies usually focus on the attached ideology, the radical right, rather than the populist ideology. And, third, few studies compare left- and right-wing populism. This leaves the question: do attitudes among supporters of left- and right-wing populism differ? Moreover, if so, what unites them?