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Why do rather few religiously active Christians prefer the Sweden Democrats?

Political Parties
Populism
Religion
Magnus Hagevi
Linnaeus University
Magnus Hagevi
Linnaeus University

Abstract

There is academic discussion of why rather few religiously active Christians vote for authoritarian populist parties in Western Europe. In Sweden, with an extremely secular population in a historically Protestant country, religiously active Christians confirm this Western European trend, as rather few of them vote for the authoritarian populist Sweden Democrats. Why is this the case? Using data from a national survey conducted in 2019, this study tests two hypotheses: 1) the Sweden Democrats gets rather low support from religiously active Christians, as they support anti-refugee policies to a lesser extent than do other voters; 2) the Sweden Democrats receives rather low support from religiously active Christians not because the support anti-refugee policy to a lesser extent than do other people, but because they instead prefer the Christian Democrats. Hypothesis 1 gets support, but not Hypothesis 2.