TY - JOUR
T1 - Religion as Catalyst or Restraint of Radical Right Voting?
AU - Immerzeel, T.
AU - Jaspers, E.
AU - Lubbers, M.
PY - 2013
Y1 - 2013
N2 - It is often found that religious people are underrepresented among the radical right electorate, despite radical right parties' claim of being defenders of the Judeo-Christian society. This study investigates this paradoxical finding and examines to what extent two dimensions of religion-practice and belief-play a role in voting for a radical right party across seven West European countries. Using the European Values Study from 2008, it was found that religiously active people are indeed less likely to vote for a radical right party, because they tend to vote for a Christian party. However, the study challenges the common wisdom that religion alone is a restraint on radical right voting and shows that orthodox believers in three countries-Belgium, Norway and Switzerland-feel more threatened by the presence of immigrants and therefore are more likely than their mainstream counterparts to vote for a radical right party. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.
AB - It is often found that religious people are underrepresented among the radical right electorate, despite radical right parties' claim of being defenders of the Judeo-Christian society. This study investigates this paradoxical finding and examines to what extent two dimensions of religion-practice and belief-play a role in voting for a radical right party across seven West European countries. Using the European Values Study from 2008, it was found that religiously active people are indeed less likely to vote for a radical right party, because they tend to vote for a Christian party. However, the study challenges the common wisdom that religion alone is a restraint on radical right voting and shows that orthodox believers in three countries-Belgium, Norway and Switzerland-feel more threatened by the presence of immigrants and therefore are more likely than their mainstream counterparts to vote for a radical right party. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.
U2 - 10.1080/01402382.2013.797235
DO - 10.1080/01402382.2013.797235
M3 - Article
SN - 0140-2382
VL - 36
SP - 946
EP - 968
JO - West European Politics
JF - West European Politics
IS - 5
ER -