Trust Under Pressure: How the Success of Populist Radical Right Parties Shapes Immigrants’ Trust.

The growing support for populist radical right parties (PRRPs) across Europe reflects increasing anti-immigration sentiments. However, not much is known about how this political shift affects individuals with a migration background. This study examines how PRRP elec-toral success influences trust in parliament and generalized social trust among individuals with a migration background, compared to those without. To this end, individual-level data from waves 1 to 11 of the European Social Survey are combined with national-level PRRP performance from ParlGov. Importantly, the rise of PRRPs does not appear to generally undermine trust. However, particularly first-generation immigrants and immigrants from Mus-lim-majority countries, two groups that exhibit comparatively higher levels of trust in par-liament in the absence of PRRPs, experience substantial declines in trust when PRRPs are present. Furthermore, PRRP success is associated with reductions in generalized social trust among first- and second-generation immigrants, compared to individuals without a migration background. Overall, these results challenge the assumption that political environments are experienced uniformly across different societal groups.