Radical Right-Wing Populist Party Preference and Perceived Group Threat: Time, Context, and Moderators

With this dissertation I aim for a deeper understanding of the most prominent link in research on radical right-wing populist parties – this aim is threefold. At its heart is the relationship between perceived group threat and radical right-wing populist party preferences. First, I test the temporal order of perceived group threat and radical right-wing populist party prefer-ences. Second, I examine the ideological climate of group threat perception as a contextual antecedent of preferences for radical right-wing populist parties. Third, I analyze if media attention to radical right-wing populist parties affects radical right-wing populist party prefer-ences and, if so, to what extent media attention operates as a factor further illuminating the link between perceived group threat and radical right-wing populist preferences

The Crowdsourced Replication Initiative: Investigating Immigration and Social Policy Preferences. Executive Report.

In an era of mass migration, social scientists, populist parties and social movements raise concerns over the future of immigration-destination societies. What impacts does this have on policy and social solidarity? Comparative cross-national research, relying mostly on secondary data, has findings in different directions. There is a threat of selective model reporting and lack of replicability. The heterogeneity of countries obscures attempts to clearly define data-generating models. P-hacking and HARKing lurk among standard research practices in this area.This project employs crowdsourcing to address these issues. It draws on replication, deliberation, meta-analysis and harnessing the power of many minds at once. The Crowdsourced Replication Initiative carries two main goals, (a) to better investigate the linkage between immigration and social policy preferences across countries, and (b) to develop crowdsourcing as a social science method. The Executive Report provides short reviews of the area of social policy preferences and immigration, and the methods and impetus behind crowdsourcing plus a description of the entire project. Three main areas of findings will appear in three papers, that are registered as PAPs or in process

SCoRE - Sub-national Context and Radical Right Support in Europe

The data for the research project SCORE – Sub-national Context and Radical Right Support in Europe was collected in 2017. The research project focuses on analysing the causes and effects of sub-national differences in support for the radical right in Germany with the aim of improving the existing patterns. The survey evaluated opinions and attitudes on a range of topics, including Euroscepticism, right-wing populism, attitudes towards Islam, globalisation, political identification and participation. The dataset was collected as part of the German component of the transnational project Sub-National Context and Radical Right Support in Europe (SCoRE), which involves France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The online survey was conducted by infratest dimap (N=25976). Further information can be found at: https://www.score.uni-mainz.de/Right-left political self-assessment; satisfaction with local politics; interest in politics; understanding of politics and political effectiveness; far-right/populist attitudes; scepticism towards the European Union (EU), attitudes towards EU membership; perceived cultural threat from immigration; increase in crime due to immigration; perceived economic threat from immigration; threat to welfare state due to immigration; party voting; authoritarian attitudes; prejudices against Islam; conservative attitudes and values; traditional gender roles, homosexuality; perception of ethnic diversity in neighbourhood; Intergroup contact, contact with ethnic minority groups in everyday life, relationship with these groups, integration of ethnically diverse groups in circle of friends and family; party identification; economic right-left assessment; attitudes towards globalisation; welfare chauvinism; media consumption, news; relative deprivation; life satisfaction; Moreno scale (attachment to place of residence, region, federal state, country, EU); Housing situation; distance between place of birth and current place of residence; infrastructure and environmental aspects; local disintegration; perception of changes in the neighbourhood; feeling of regional exclusion, segregation, marginalisation; voluntary work; political participation; turnout and voting behaviour in the last federal election. Demographics: gender; year of birth; age; education; employment; occupational status; federal state; nationality; place of birth; parents´ place of birth; religious affiliation. Additionally coded: Interrogator (device).Die (Online-)Umfragedaten des Forschungsprojekts ´SCORE - Sub-national Context and Radical Right Support in Europe´ wurden im Jahr 2017 erhoben. Die Untersuchung konzentriert sich auf die Analyse der Ursachen und Auswirkungen subnationaler Unterschiede hinsichtlich der Unterstützung für die radikale Rechte in Deutschland. Im Rahmen der Umfrage wurden Meinungen und Einstellungen zu einer Reihe von Themen erfragt, darunter Euroskeptizismus, Rechtspopulismus, Einstellungen zum Islam, Globalisierung sowie politische Identifikation und Partizipation. Der Datensatz wurde als deutsche Komponente des länderübergreifenden Projekts ´Sub-National Context and Radical Right Support in Europe (SCoRE)´ erhoben, an dem Frankreich, Deutschland, die Niederlande und das Vereinigte Königreich beteiligt sind. Die Online-Umfrage wurde von infratest dimap durchgeführt (N=25976). Für weitere Informationen besuchen Sie: https://www.score.uni-mainz.de/Politische Rechts-Links Selbsteinschätzung; Zufriedenheit mit lokaler Politik; Politikinteresse; Politikverständnis und politische Wirksamkeit; rechtsextreme/-populistische Einstellungen; Skepsis gegenüber Europäischer Union (EU), Einstellungen zur EU-Mitgliedschaft; kulturelle Bedrohungswahrnehmung durch Zuwanderung; Kriminalität durch Zuwanderung; ökonomische Bedrohungswahrnehmung durch Zuwanderung; Bedrohung des Sozialstaats durch Zuwanderung; Parteiwahl; autoritaristische Einstellungen; Vorurteile gegenüber dem Islam; konservative Einstellungen und Werte; traditionelle Geschelchterrollenverhältnisse, Homosexualität; Wahrnehmung ethnischer Vielfalt im Wohngebiet; Intergruppenkontakt, Kontakt zu ethnischen Minderheitsgruppen im Alltag, Beziehung zu diesen Gruppen, Integration ethnisch diverser Gruppen in Freundeskreis und Familie; Parteidentifikation; ökonomische Rechts-Linkseinschätzung; Einstellungen zur Globalisierung; Wohlfahrtschauvinismus; Medienkonsum, Nachrichten; relative Deprivation; Lebenszufriedenheit; Moreno-Skala (Verbundenheit mit Wohnort, Region, Bundesland, Land, EU); Wohnsituation, Entfernung Geburtsort und aktueller Wohnort, Infrastruktur und ökologische Aspekte, lokale Desintegration, Wahrnehmung eines Wandels in der Nachbarschaft, Gefühl der regionalen Ausgrenzung, Segregation, Marginalisierung; Ehrenamt; politische Partizipation; Wahlbeteiligung und Wahlverhalten bei der letzten Bundestagswahl. Demographie: Geschlecht; Geburtsjahr; Alter; Schulbildung; Erwerbstätigkeit; berufliche Stellung; Bundesland; Staatsangehörigkeit; Geburtsort; Geburtsort Eltern; religiöse Zugehörigkeit. Zusätzlich verkodet wurde: Abfragegerät (Device)

Replication Data for: "Contextual Perceived Group Threat and Radical Right-Wing Populist Party Preferences: Evidence from Switzerland"

Replication data and code for all tables and figures in the paper

Contextual perceived group threat and radical right-wing populist party preferences: Evidence from Switzerland

Existing studies suggest that perceived group threat is an important influence on radical right-wing populist party preferences. However, most have focused on perceived group threat at the individual level, overlooking the ideological climate. I examine how an ideological climate of group threat perception as a contextual factor can shape individual preferences for radical right-wing populist party preferences. I argue that above and beyond personal perceived group threat, the prevalence of local perceived group threat exerts a normative influence on personal preferences. Using voting preferences for the Swiss People’s Party, I employ multilevel structural equation modeling to examine the theoretical model. I find clear evidence for a contextual effect of perceived group threat on individual-level Swiss People’s Party preferences

The two dimensions of narcissistic personality and support for the radical right: the role of right‐wing authoritarianism, social dominance orientation and anti‐immigrant sentiment

This paper offers an explanation of the link between grandiose narcissism and support for radical right parties. Drawing on representative data of the GESIS Panel (N = 2827), focusing on support for the German radical right populist party Alternative for Germany in 2016 and treating grandiose narcissism as a two‐dimensional concept, it is shown that the effects of grandiose narcissism are indirect rather than direct. The paper also reveals that it is mainly narcissistic rivalry that accounts for radical right party support, whereas narcissistic admiration has a protecting relationship. Finally, our results indicate that the indirect effects of narcissistic rivalry on radical right party support via right‐wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation, respectively, are mediated by anti‐immigrant sentiment. All in all, our results suggest that in studies on ideological orientations and voting behaviour, both dimensions of grandiose narcissism should be considered due to their contradictory relationship. Moreover, our findings indicate that the success of radical right parties might be the expression of personality dispositions of some parts of the electorate. © 2020 The Authors. European Journal of Personality published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Association of Personality Psycholog

Careless Responding - Rates and Reactions in a Quota Sample and a Voluntary Opt-in Sample

In recent years, internet based surveys have become a popular survey mode in social science. However, this survey mode is prone to careless responding (CR), the tendency to respond to a survey item by ignoring the item’s content. CR might lead to incorrect factor structures as well as to attenuate associations between survey items such that type II errors may occur. Therefore, several detection methods for CR have been proposed and examined. However, the issue of CR has mainly been discussed among psychologists concerned about serious threats to data quality, when questionnaires are internet based and when the sample consists of college students who participate in exchange for a course credit or for remuneration. In this paper, we examine rates of CR based on two different samples utilizing different detection methods. First, we use a quota sample (with remuneration), a central data source for internet based surveys in sociological and political research. Second, we include a voluntary opt-in panel (without remuneration). The experimental setting in both samples allows us examining respondents’ reactions to the detection methods

Electoral Choice in Multidimensional Party Systems

The diversity of issue interests and party options in multiparty systems makes individual electoral decisions increasingly complex. Voters are challenged to find a political party that represents their own political views in this more complex political space. This research offers a new methodological approach to studying voting choice in a multidimensional party space. We integrate the issue preferences of European voters and the issue preferences of party elites in a two-dimensional model of electoral choice. A common space of political competition for citizens and party elites is defined by the economic and cultural cleavages using data from the 2009 European Elections Studies (EES). Our innovation is to employ multilevel structural equation modeling to address the unique statistical challenges of a multi-dimensional party space, mass-elite comparisons, and cross-national analysis. This new approach generates results that are distinctly different from previous studies—even those using the same dataset. By factoring in the measurement of issue dimensions, economic issues have a stronger impact than recognized using previous methodologies, with more modest cultural influences on voting. Moreover, there are significant cross-over effects of the two cleavages in voters’ choices. The results reveal the complexity of realignment between voters and political parties in Western Europe