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Is there a populist personality? Populist attitudes, personality, and voter preference in Australian public opinion
Kenny, Paul Bizumic, Boris
Kenny, Paul
Bizumic, Boris
Author
Abstract
This paper investigates whether personality affects support for populist parties either directly or indirectly through “populist attitudes.” It theorizes that populist attitudes should be disambiguated into their component facets and that the attitudinal components of populism are best understood as loosely related characteristic adaptations, which mediate the relationship between personality and vote choice. Using data from a nationally representative survey of 2200 Australians fielded prior to the general election in 2019, the paper demonstrates that the three attitudinal components of populism (People-centrism, Anti-elitism, and a Manichean outlook) are weakly associated with one another and distinctively connected with underlying personality traits. Our results indicate that populist attitudes are better conceptualized as a cluster of weakly related psychological tendencies rather than as a coherent worldview or personality. Mediation analysis indicates that personality traits affect support for populist parties both directly and indirectly through the attitudinal components of populism.
Keywords
personality, support, populist parties, populist attitudes
Date
2023
Type
Journal article
Journal
Journal of Elections, Public Opinion, and Parties
Book
Volume
34
Issue
4
Page Range
697-722
Article Number
ACU Department
Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences
Faculty of Education and Arts
Faculty of Education and Arts
Collections
Relation URI
Event URL
Open Access Status
License
All rights reserved
File Access
Controlled
Notes
© 2023 Elections, Public Opinion & Parties.