‘Sour Grapes and the Seeds of Discontent’: Citizens in Ressentiment and the Populist Surge.

This study explores the political attitudes of citizens in ressentiment, a distinctive emotional state prevalent in contemporary grievance politics. Ressentiment is characterised by deep-seated sense of bitterness, hostility and chronic frustration that arises from feelings of powerlessness and perceived injustices in the political arena. In two cross-sectional studies, we examine the role of ressentiment in predicting populist attitudes. Specifically, Study 1 (United Kingdom, N = 300) and Study 2 (United States, N = 298) reveal a positive relationship between ressentiment and populism, arguing for the mediating role of rejecting the status quo. In Study 3 (United States, N = 300, pre-registered) we used an experimental vignette featuring a fictitious country to illustrate that eliciting ressentiment (as compared to a control condition) led to a significant increase in support for populism among citizens. Taken together, these findings empirically establish that ressentiment is central for understanding the emotional roots of the populist surge