Working-Class Voters Supporting the Radical Right: Do Trade Unions Have a Shielding Effect?

This study explores the relationship between class politics and support for the populist radical right, analysing the role of trade unions in understanding the growing working-class support for populist radical right parties. We empirically test the theoretical argument that a strong presence of trade unions will work as a shield against the populist radical right’s attempts to mobilize working-class support. We build our empirical analyses on an original dataset including survey responses on electoral behaviour, workplace characteristics, and union membership from working-class respondents in Sweden. The results render partial support for our theoretical expectations, showing that union membership – but not the local presence of trade unions - predicts support for the populist radical right party the Sweden Democrats. Examining further the potential mechanisms that explain why trade union membership decreases support for populist radical right parties, we find that the salience of economic issues mediates the relationship. Since union membership has decreased rather dramatically the over past decades in Europe, this development may partially explain the growing electoral support for populist radical right parties during this period.