EXC 2060 B3-38 - Religious conservatism and the support for right-wing populist parties

Basic data for this project

Description

Numerous political science studies explore which socio-economic groups support populist parties, which factors contribute to success or failure of these parties and how common populist attitudes in the population are. Less attention has been paid to the link between religiosity and populism, despite the fact that evangelical Christians support Donald Trump in disproportionate numbers. In Western Europe, in contrast, non-religious groups seem more prone towards right-wing populist parties, whereas in Poland the degree of religiosity strongly predicts support for the governing PiS party. This research points starts off from the observation of these differences in the relationship between religious beliefs and populism. The main research question is how religious conservativism relates to the support for right-wing populist parties in Europe.