The Effects of Populist Identity Framing on Populist Attitudes Across Europe

Evidence From a 15-Country Comparative Experiment

Bibliographic Data

ID8046476
AuthorsMichael Hameleers (0000-0002-8038-5005, University of Amsterdam, corresponding author), Desirée Schmuck (0000-0002-9492-6052, School for Mass Communication Research, KU Leuven, Belgium), Anne Schulz (0000-0003-0456-6661, Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, Oxford University, UK), Dominique S Wirz (0000-0003-2688-8506, University of Fribourg), Jörg Matthes (0000-0001-9408-955X, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München Institut für Kommunikationswissenschaft und Medienforschung, University of Vienna, Austria), Linda Bos (0000-0002-0160-3490, University of Amsterdam), Nicoleta Corbu (0000-0001-9606-9827, National University of Political Studies and Public Administration, College of Communication and Public Relations, SNSPA, Romania), Ioannis Andreadis (0000-0001-6782-1530, Department of Political Sciences Aristotle University Thessaloniki, University of Thessaloniki, Greece)
Year2020
Volume33
Issue3
Pages491-510
Publication date2020-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Public Opinion Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0954-2892 • E-ISSN: 1471-6909
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/ijpor/edaa018
OpenAlexW3137047565
LanguageEN
Citations received26
References cited31

We investigate the effects of populist messages that (a) stress the centrality of “ordinary” people, (b) shift blame to the “corrupt” elites, or (c) combine people centrality and antielitist cues on 3 dimensions of populist attitudes: anti-elitism, homogeneous people, and popular sovereignty. We conducted an extensive 15-country experiment in which we manipulated populist communication as social identity frames (N = 7,271). Multilevel analyses demonstrate that messages stressing the centrality of the ordinary people activate all dimensions of populist attitudes. In contrast, anti-elite messages activate anti-elitism attitudes only for those individuals with lower levels of education and extreme positions on the ideological left–right spectrum. Our findings suggest that populist political communication plays a key role in activating populist attitudes across Europe

Blame · Elite · Elitism · Framing (construction · Mainstream · Populism · Media Influence and Politics · Misinformation and Its Impacts · Populism, Right-Wing Movements

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