The Nature and Structure of Populist Attitudes

For the past decade populism scholars have considered moving the scholarship of populism from the elite level to mass opinion. During this Ame, populist a6tudes as a phenomenon was conceptualized and now we know that it predicts poliAcal outcomes such as who people vote for and if they vote at all. New efforts a;empted to bring together the mass and elite levels of analysis by understanding how populist supply change demand on an a6tudinal level. These efforts both on the observaAonal and experimental levels were quite unsuccessful. This study presents evidence that populist a6tudes are quite stable and independent of populist supply, rather supply is more responsible for the acAvaAon of the a6tudes that has consequences that reach further than vote choice. ConAnuing to approach populist a6tude research from the perspecAve of what will change people’s minds is fuAle based on the preliminary evidence. A potenAally more fruiKul framework is presented with experimental evidence of its uAlity.