The stigma on right-wing parties: perceptions and voting behaviour

Right-wing parties are often stigmatised as extremists and racists. However, the extent to which voters perceive a party as stigmatised and the impact of such perceptions on voting behaviour remain unexplored. Drawing on European Election Studies, we mapped individual perceptions of the stigma associated with right-wing parties in 27 EU member states and identified contextual factors influencing these perceptions. We also evaluated the impact of perceived stigma on the propensity to vote for stigmatised parties. Multilevel analyses revealed that a communist legacy and prior government experience reduced the extent of stigmatisation of far-right parties. In contrast, a fascist legacy showed a weak correlation with the racist stigma associated with far-right parties. These contextual factors, however, had weak or null effects on the stigma perceptions of mainstream right parties. Individual attributes, including social class, gender, left/right ideology, residence, education, and age, also affected stigmatisation. Additionally, we tested the electoral consequences of stigma and found a negative correlation between stigma and voting for both mainstream right and far-right parties. This relationship, however, was conditional on the levels of political trust, immigration views, and economic evaluations. Our findings contribute to burgeoning research on party survival and debates on the mainstreaming of far-right ideas.