Unravelling a new romance: Why emigrants support radical right populists

There is mixed evidence regarding the extent to which emigrants support radical right populists in their home countries, and we also know very little about why that support happens. The present article seeks to address this puzzle and aims to explain why emigrants vote for radical right populist candidates and parties. Using semi-structured interviews with Romanian emigrants after the 2024 presidential and parliamentary elections, it reveals that their support was driven by a protest vote against the mainstream parties that they felt had underperformed in government and failed to introduce reforms for a while, along with a quest for national identity and spirituality in uncertain times, and – to a significantly lower extent – mild sovereigntist and Eurosceptic attitudes. These findings add nuance to, and complement, the burgeoning literature on non-resident citizens’ electoral preferences.