The Psychology of Preferring Populist Parties

Populist parties are gaining ground in Europe, even in Germany although political scientists used to think that a populist party could not be successful in Germany due to the country’s history. However, the populist Alternative für Deutschland (AfD, Alternative for Germany) is now part of several state parliaments, the European parliament and will most probably win seats in the election to the national parliament in September 2017. Although explanations for preferring populist parties such as dissatisfaction with political elites, a lack of trust in politics or extremist views exist, there is not much research on the link between personality traits resp. states (such as such as openness to experience, agreeableness and social trust) and preferring populist parties. Hence, do less open, less agreeable, less trusting voters have stronger preferences for populist parties? The proposed paper examines this relationship by making use of survey data from Germany conducted between 2013 and 2017 and taking a close look on preferences for the AFD. Proposed to panel 1: Voting gone rogue: the political psychology of electoral politics