Identity threat, personal values, and political attitudes: Evidence from a large‐scale survey across the European Union
2026-07-23
In political contexts, identities are typically based on shared values. Populist rhetoric often utilizes real and perceived threats to evoke such identities, especially on the far right. Using dedicated items in a survey covering all 27 EU Member States ( N = 27,032), we present evidence on the understudied link between perceived identity threat and values, reflecting foundational motivations of people, as well as downstream political attitudes. At the EU level, personal values related to anxiety avoidance correlate positively with perceived identity threat, whereas growth‐focused values correlate negatively. The positive relationship between identity threat and values focusing on increasing one's self‐efficacy and status is especially pronounced, suggesting compensatory motivational processes. National‐level analysis reveals a more nuanced picture. Perceived identity threat correlates strongly with lower support for liberal policies. This result is relatively homogenous across the EU‐27 and holds when controlling for personal values. Overall, the findings resonate with populist rhetoric focusing on in‐groups and status while attacking liberal policies and universalist values. Conversely, the findings offer hope that policies and communication reducing identity threat may reinforce support for liberal policies and aligned values.