One in ten EU voters is firmly in far-right camp, survey finds
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One out of ten European voters is a convinced supporter of far-right parties, according to a survey of twelve EU countries released Friday, ahead of the European parliamentary elections in May.
The survey, conducted by online polling agency YouGov on behalf of the German foundation Bertelsmann, found that 10.3 per cent of voters positively identify themselves with populist right or extreme right parties.
It marked the highest positive identity of any single political grouping. The survey found that 6.2 per cent positively identify with the radical left and 4.4 per cent with a Green party. But far-right parties also had the highest negative values, with 52.8 per cent rejecting the radical right, just above 52.2 per cent who would never vote for the radical left.
"The populist parties have managed to create a stable voter base for themselves in a relatively short period of time. But their simultaneously high rejection values also show how dangerous it would be for other parties to imitate the populist parties," said Robert Vehrkamp, co-author of the study.
In general, the poll found far higher negative than positive values, suggesting most EU citizens will be voting against rather than declaring themselves for any particular political movement.
Overall, just 6.3 per cent of those surveyed said they had a positive political identity, while 48.8 per cent named a party they could "never" vote for. On the positive side, the survey found high interest in the EU elections in May, with 68 per cent of respondents saying they would take part. In Germany, that figure was 73 per cent. YouGov surveyed 23,725 people across twelve EU member states in January 2019.
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