Keeping the left alive: exploring voter support for the Greens and Left Alliance (AVS) in the 2024 European elections

This paper explores the motivations of voters who supported the Greens and Left Alliance (Alleanza Verdi e Sinistra, AVS) in the 2024 European elections in Italy. In 2024, AVS nearly doubled its national vote share compared to the 2022 general elections, with an increase of more than 600,000 absolute votes – a growth second to none among Italian parties in that election. The goal of this study is to explore the reasons that drove individuals to choose this relatively small and previously marginal alliance. We investigate whether support was primarily driven by ideological alignment, policy positions on salient issues, candidate appeal, leaders’ character or other factors. Drawing on a two-step mixed-methods design, we combine data from an original post-election online survey of AVS voters with insights from semi-structured in-depth interviews. This research design mitigates common limitations in electoral studies, particularly the challenge of understanding voters’ underlying motivations for their vote choice. Our findings suggest that voters were primarily motivated by AVS’s perceived ideological clarity and consistency, as well as by its prioritization of workers’ rights, environmental protection, and international solidarity – rather than by individual candidates or leaders. The study contributes to the understanding of the 2024 European elections and offers broader insights into Italian politics, the dynamics of left-wing and green parties, and issue-based voting.