20 February 2019

The 2019 edition of Timbro Authoritarian Populism Index shows that 2018 was the best year to date for populist parties across Europe. Today, their average voter support is at 22.2 percent. This is an increase with 1.5 percent compared to 2017. In addition, this is the second biggest increase on record between two consecutive years.

Key conclusions of the index

• More than one in four cast their vote for an authoritarian populist party last time they voted in a national election.
• Voter support for authoritarian populists increased in all six elections in Europe during 2018 and has on an aggregated level increased in ten out of the last eleven elections.
• The combined support for left- and right-wing populist parties now equals the support for Social democratic parties and is twice the size of support for liberal parties.
• Right-wing populist parties are currently growing more rapidly than ever before and have increased their voter support with 33 percent in four years.
• Almost every other government includes or relies on populists: authoritarian populists are part of eleven out of 33 governments and offer parliamentary support in an additional four countries.
• Hungary, Greece and Italy are the three countries where the support for authoritarian populist parties is strongest, while the weakest support is found in Malta, Ireland and the United Kingdom.

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