To whom are "the people" opposed? Conceptualizing and measuring citizens' populist attitudes as a multidimensional construct

Previous research has predominantly measured populist attitudes as a one-dimensional concept, tapping into the distinction between the ordinary people and the culprit elites. With growing differentiation of populist viewpoints across the globe, this unidimensional approach may not reflect the multif...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of elections, public opinion and parties public opinion and parties, 2020-04, Vol.30 (2), p.255-274
Main Authors: Hameleers, Michael, de Vreese, Claes H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attitudes
Citizens
Confirmatory factor analysis
Differentiation
Discriminant analysis
Elites
Factor analysis
Measures
Populism
Rhetoric
Voters
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Summary:Previous research has predominantly measured populist attitudes as a one-dimensional concept, tapping into the distinction between the ordinary people and the culprit elites. With growing differentiation of populist viewpoints across the globe, this unidimensional approach may not reflect the multifaceted reality of the people's populism. Most importantly, albeit paramount in right-wing populist rhetoric, exclusionist perceptions of others threatening the monocultural nation of the people are typically not captured in one-dimensional conceptualizations. To assess more precisely how populist attitudes are structured, we collected original survey data (N = 809) among a representative sample of Dutch citizens. Using Multidimensional Scaling and Confirmatory Factor Analysis, we propose a two-dimensional structure: anti-establishment and exclusionism. This study further demonstrates how salient these different populist attitudes are among which voters.
ISSN:1745-7289
1745-7297
DOI:10.1080/17457289.2018.1532434