Causes and consequences of different types of Euroscepticism among voters

The paper analyses the nature, causes and consequences of different types of voters’ positions on the EU. Previous literature on political parties in Western Europe has shown that Euroscepticism is usually located on both extremes of the ideological axis. However, extant studies have also highlighted that Eurosceptic parties with different ideological positions tend to target different aspects of the EU. Radical left parties have always been critical about the free-market slant of EU policies. Yet, they are not in principle against the idea of supranational integration, since it fits with leftist preferences for international cooperation and regulation. Conversely, radical right parties have always been concerned about the threats posed by the integration process to national culture and sovereignty. Their nationalistic and traditionalist worldview is incompatible with the transfer of powers to supranational institutions and its corresponding loss of national sovereignty. The present study uses panel survey data collected in Spain during 2019 to investigate how, to what extent, and with which consequences these different types of opposition to the EU combine to form voters’ opinions. In particular, the paper matches citizens’ attitudes toward different aspects of the EU to create a typology of Eurosceptic/Europhile profiles. The paper analyses: (i) the ideological distribution of the different profiles; (ii) their (economic and cultural) predictors; (iii) their electoral consequences (iv) their stability over time. The results will provide a finer-grained picture of citizens’ preferences and will shed light on the dynamics of the party-voter linkage on EU issues.