Depressive symptoms and populism: Evidence from European countries

Abstract In recent years, depression has entered the research agenda of political psychology, emerging as a meaningful psychological correlate of diverse political attitudes and behaviors. Surprisingly, however, its link to populism—the political phenomenon that has probably attracted most public and scholarly attention over the past several years—has not yet been studied. We address this notable blind spot and provide a first exploratory evaluation of the relationship between depressive symptoms and the inclination to populism. To do so, we make use of two European datasets (CRONOS‐2 and ESS 11) that include a validated, epidemiological short scale to measure depressive symptoms (CES‐D8) and allow us to consider both populist attitudes and populist voting as key individual‐level manifestations of populism. Our analyses show that individuals experiencing depressive symptoms tend to exhibit a stronger affinity for populist ideas and are more likely to support populist parties. Our study thus underlines the importance of prevention, early detection, and treatment measures targeting the widespread “black dog” of depression—also in the interest of preserving and promoting democratic health.