Predictors of Populism and Anti-populism in France and Poland: A Comparative Analysis

Using data from the last wave of the European Value Survey, we analyse and compare voters for authoritarian-populist parties in two European countries. Our purpose is to determine what features of populism are country-specific and what are instead indicative of a cross-country trend. We consider in particular the debate between economic deprivation versus cultural backlash theories, arguing that the choice between these two perspectives excessively simplifies analysis of the drivers of the right-wing populist vote. Instead, on the basis of a comparative analysis of the populist vote in France and Poland, we maintain that a more nuanced theory of the populist vote is needed. It should include historical factors that differentiate an ‘un-civic’ type of French populism from a traditionalist-religious Polish populism. This typology could be used to assess a broader set of populist electorates.