Falling to the Right? Fear of Socioeconomic Decline and Political Attitudes

electoral surveys indicate that it is mainly those who are pessimistic about the future who vote for the right. Supposedly, it is thus not so much the current economic status, but rather the anxiety concerning a prospective socioeconomic decline that influences electoral behavior. However, comprehensive scientific research on this topic is still scarce, thereby motivating the present paper. Drawing on data from a recent survey among young adults aged 18-35 and their parents in eleven European countries, we explore to what extent assumed intergenerational downward mobility correlates with right-wing attitudes. Contrary to the hypothesis, we find that young adults are actually less likely to declare themselves as politically right-wing if they think that they will not be able to achieve the same standard of living as their parents. However, we do find that there is a significant positive correlation between pessimism about the future and political extremism. Interestingly, these effects cannot be detected for parents – the fear that their children will not reach their own standard of living does not correlate significantly with their political attitudes.