Fuzzy on the Specifics? Multidimensional Congruence, Blurring Strategies, and Voting for Radical Right Parties in Western Europe

Radical right parties in western Europe have moved from the right to the middle of the economic left-right divide over the last twenty years. This paper shows that although expert placements of this party family on the economic dimension has become decidedly more centrist over time, the uncertainty surrounding these placements continues to be higher for the radical right than any other party family in Europe. We then move on to examine to what extent voter-party congruence on general ideology, redistribution, immigration, and other issues of social lifestyle predict an individual’s propensity to vote for the radical right compared to other parties. Although redistribution is the component of economic policy where the radical right has most substantially moved to the centre, our findings indicate that it remains party-voter congruence on immigration that drives support for radical right parties and congruence levels for redistribution are much less important in explaining an individual’s propensity to vote for these parties. The paper closes with a discussion of the ramifications of the economic ’blurring’ strategy by the radical right for contemporary party competition in Europe.