European Political Science Review
Voting for populism? How ‘populist’ labels affect support for candidates
2026-08-11
Many consider the rise of populism to be a major threat to liberal democracy today. At the same time, voters have given considerable support to such parties and politicians, with their average vote-share quadrupling in the last thirty years. Thus, while research realizes the potential hostility populism poses to the polity at large, it is unclear what connotations of the ideology exist to voters. Do voters recognize they are voting for a politician considered to be averse to democracy? Do they simply not care? I field a randomized survey experiment of 2099 respondents in the United Kingdom to measure (1) the effect labeling a politician ‘populist’ may have on their level of support, and (2) voters’ perception of the link between populism and democracy. Results suggest voters’ perception of ‘populist’ labels are largely dependent on the candidate’s left-right ideology, as well as the level of populist ideology of the voter.