KÖNSIDEOLOGI OCH KÖNSSKILLNADEN HOS HÖGERRADIKALA PARTIER En statistisk undersökning om partipositionering och väljarstöd

Abstract

In this bachelor's thesis I explore the effect of radical right populist parties’ (RRP) gender ideology on the European gender gap in RRP voting, with a focus on the RRPs potential electorate of individuals with strong anti-immigrational attitudes. The main method used is linear regression analysis with interaction effects of said party positions, testing both propensity to vote and real vote as dependent variables, with data from European Election Study (EES) 2019. The research question posed is “Could RRPs gender ideology help explain the gender gap in voting for these parties?”. I conclude, in line with previous research on the topic, that this is not the case in Western Europe. However, previous studies have overlooked that gender ideology have an effect in explaining the gender gap in Eastern Europe. Men seem to have a stronger preference of a conservative gender ideology when voting for the RRP than women. This preference is at its strongest amongst the RRPs potential electorate of individuals with anti-immigration attitudes but is visible also in the electorate at large if using propensity to vote. The extent to which these conclusions could contribute in explaining the gender gap is limited, mainly by the fact that the gender gap in Eastern Europe is well explained by existing models, but the result could help shed light on mechanisms within the policy vote model.