Representing Working People in the 21st Century: Conflicting Party Narratives and Their Relationship to Public Perceptions and Vote Choice

Social democratic parties have long had a reputation for representing the interests of manual workers and the working class. In recent years, however, radical right parties have challenged this reputation by promoting a producerist and welfare chauvinist narrative. While varying across countries, this discourse often portrays them as defenders of “hard-working” individuals against “lazy” individuals and “undeserving” welfare claimants. This paper explores how different conceptions of the working class are associated with public perceptions of working-class representation in Switzerland. Using original data from the 2023 Panel Survey of the Swiss Election Survey (Selects), which includes questions on perceived party–group representation, we examine how varying descriptions of “working people” relate to perceptions of which party best represents their interests. We demonstrate that the Social Democrats retain their reputation as representatives of manual workers, a group historically associated with this party family. However, this reputation weakens when the working class is described in terms resonating with the producerist and welfare chauvinist discourse of the radical right. Importantly, these shifts in perceived representation also translate into meaningful differences in vote choice: when respondents adopt producerist or welfare-chauvinist definitions of the working class, they are significantly more likely to prefer radical right parties over the Social Democrats. These findings suggest that narratives may shape both perceptions of political representation and electoral behaviour, underscoring the importance of narrative competition in party politics.