Populism and Candidate Support in the US: The Effects of “Thin” and “Host” Ideology

• DOI: 10.1017/xps.2022.9
• Publication Date: 2022-06-16T06:38:51Z
• Authors: Bruno Castanho Silva; Fabian Guy Neuner; Christopher Wratil
• Keywords: Populism; Elitism; Pluralism; Elite; Divergence (linguistics)

Abstract Much of the contemporary literature on populism focuses its status as a “thin” ideology comprising three key components: people-centrism, anti-elitism, and anti-pluralism. Populist politicians pair this with extreme positions policy issues such immigration or taxation (referred to “host” “thick” ideologies). A recent study using German samples leveraged conjoint experiments disentangle effects these appeals vote choice. The results not only showed that host-ideological mattered more than so-called populist appeals, but also were nearly identical among non-populist voters. Our replication in US context reaffirms both importance lack heterogeneous by voters’ attitudes. Furthermore, uncovering some divergence from case (e.g. anti-elite trumping people-centric appeals), we highlight need experimentally examine populism’s constituent components across contexts.