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Does anger drive populism?

Author

Listed:
  • Omer Ali

    (University of Pittsburgh)

  • Klaus Desmet

    (SMU)

  • Romain Wacziarg

    (UCLA)

Abstract

We study whether anger fuels the rise of populism. Anger as an emotion tends to act as a call to action against individuals or groups that are blamed for negative situations, making it conducive to voting for populist politicians. Using a unique dataset tracking emotions for a large sample of respondents from 2008 to 2017, we explore the relationship between anger and the populist vote share across US counties. More angry counties displayed stronger preferences for populist candidates during the 2016 presidential primaries and elections. However, once we control for other negative emotions and life satisfaction, anger no longer operates as a determinant of the populist vote share. Instead, our results indicate that a more general sense of malaise and gloom, rather than anger per se, drives the rise in populism

Suggested Citation

  • Omer Ali & Klaus Desmet & Romain Wacziarg, 2024. "Does anger drive populism?," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 44(4), pages 1513-1527.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-24-00092
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    File URL: http://www.accessecon.com/Pubs/EB/2024/Volume44/EB-24-V44-I4-P121.pdf
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Populism; Anger; Negative Emotions; US Elections; US Primaries; US Politics.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D7 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making

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