Media, Spillovers and Social Norms
The Electoral Impact of Anti-Far-Right Protests in the 2002 French Election
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 9718428 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Nicolas Lagios (0000-0002-9693-7935, Université Libre de Bruxelles), Pierre-Guillaume Méon (Université Libre de Bruxelles), Pierre‐guillaume Méon (0000-0003-1740-2922, Université Libre de Bruxelles), Ilan Tojerow (0000-0002-5148-5402, Université Libre de Bruxelles) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 135 |
| Issue | 669 |
| Pages | 1575-1608 |
| Publication date | 2025-06-30 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Economic Journal (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0013-0133 • E-ISSN: 1468-0297 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/ej/ueaf001 |
| OpenAlex | W4406123523 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 46 |
We study the electoral impact of protesting against the far right by investigating the demonstrations held during the 2002 French presidential elections against far-right candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen. Instrumenting rally attendance with rainfall while factoring in that some municipalities never host protests, we find that larger protests reduced the number of votes for Le Pen and abstention, while increasing the number of votes for the incumbent president, Jacques Chirac. We find that the effect spread out beyond the municipalities that hosted protests and worked through media exposure. Using survey data, we show that protests reduced support for the policies advocated by Le Pen. Moreover, the positive effect on voting for Chirac resulted from right-wing voters switching from Le Pen to Chirac and left-wing voters not casting a blank ballot, implying that some voters voted expressively. Finally, we show that protests reduced the social desirability of voting for Le Pen
Attendance · Ballot · Demographic economics · Economics · Far right · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Presidential election · Right wing · Voting · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Media Influence and Politics · Populism, Right-Wing Movements
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| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |