Voting for the Radicals: Choosing Between the Radical Left and the Radical Right Among Lower Middle Class and Working Class Voters

Recent analyses have suggested that working class voters in Europe are increasingly attracted by radical right parties. Nevertheless, some workers still vote for the left, including the radical left. In a context of increased economic uncertain and social inequalities, electoral volatility, party system fragmentation and polarization understanding vote choice for radical parties is intrinsically relevant. This paper focuses on lower-middle class and working class voters as a potentially propitious segment of the electorate for radical parties on the left and right, due to increasing discontent and grievances. We examine in detail which segments of the lower-middle and working classes are more likely to vote for radical left or radical right parties (and also as opposed to mainstream parties) as a function of their social structure positions, work conditions, social milieu and place of residence, while controlling for their political attitudes. We use a novel dataset collected purposely to comprehensively capture the labour market positions and conditions of voters in France, Germany, Greece and Spain in 2019.