The angry voter? The role of emotions in voting for the radical left and right at the 2019 Belgian elections
| Published date | 01 January 2025 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/01925121231224524 |
| Author | Laura Jacobs,Caroline Close,Jean-Benoit Pilet |
| Date | 01 January 2025 |
https://doi.org/10.1177/01925121231224524
International Political Science Review
2025, Vol. 46(1) 144 –159
© The Author(s) 2024
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DOI: 10.1177/01925121231224524
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The angry voter? The role of
emotions in voting for the radical
left and right at the 2019 Belgian
elections
Laura Jacobs
University of Antwerp, Belgium
Caroline Close
Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
Jean-Benoit Pilet
Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
Abstract
This study examines the role of negative (anger, fear) and positive emotions in addition to political attitudes
(political trust, populist attitudes, external political efficacy) as key determinants of voting behaviour. We
rely on the RepResent voter survey conducted in 2019 in Belgium (n = 3236) allowing us to assess the
relationship between emotions, political attitudes, and the vote for radical right (VB, PP) and radical left
parties (PTB-PVDA). Findings indicate that anger is significantly and positively related to voting for radical
left and right parties, while controlling for key political attitudes and issue positions. Fear and positive
emotions are not significantly more related to voting for radical parties than for other parties. The results
suggest that anger should be more systematically integrated in electoral research. These findings call for
further analysis on the causal mechanism linking emotions and voting behaviour, and the (in)direct effects
of emotions on voting.
Keywords
Emotions, voting behaviour, radical left, radical right, Belgium, anger
Corresponding author:
Laura Jacobs, Department of Political Science, Faculty of Social Science, University of Antwerp, Sint-Jacobsstraat 2,
Antwerp, 2000, Belgium.
Email: laura.jacobs@uantwerpen.be
1224524IPS0010.1177/01925121231224524International Political Science ReviewJacobs et al.
research-article2024
Original Research Article
Jacobs et al. 145
Introduction
‘It’s the emotions, stupid!’ Research has increasingly recognized that emotions play a role in
politics, anger in particular (Magni, 2017). Especially radical left and radical right parties are
expected to attract citizens with underlying feelings, such as anger, and to exploit them politi-
cally in an attempt to challenge their mainstream party competitors – in line with their anti-elite
profile. This strategy seems to be fruitful. Radical left and right parties have performed well in
the ballot box in Western Europe, forcing traditional parties to respond (Norris and Inglehart,
2019). In Belgium, for instance, both the radical left PTB-PVDA1 and radical right VB2 have
celebrated victories following the federal, European and regional elections on 26 May 2019
(Close and van Haute, 2020; Walgrave et al., 2020). Yet, few studies have directly examined the
role played by different types of emotions in the vote for both radical left and radical right par-
ties. This is the aim of this study, using data from Belgium. We aim to add to the debate on affec-
tive politics by exploring how both negative (anger, fear) and positive emotions drive the vote
for radical parties. Our question is whether including emotions in the equation brings new
insights to our understanding of the vote compared to established and attitudinal determinants of
vote choice (political trust, populist attitudes, external political efficacy) for ideologically
diverse radical parties. In doing so, we contribute to two strands of research. First, we contribute
to a growing body of research exploring underlying explanations of the electoral success of these
types of parties (Rooduijn, 2018; Van Hauwaert and Van Kessel, 2018). Radical parties, either
on the left or right side of the political spectrum, are characterized by ideologically extremist
positions. Radical right parties combine nativist (i.e. the belief in a strictly ordered society)
(Mudde, 2004). Radical left parties reject the dominant structure of the capitalist economic sys-
tem, advocate for alternative power structures, and call for major reforms to tackle extant ine-
qualities in society (March, 2012). Second, we contribute to the literature that highlights the role
of emotions in politics. Marcus (2000) has suggested a turn towards ‘affective politics’ by intro-
ducing emotions as vital drivers in rational decision-making processes (Vasilopoulos et al.,
2019). Especially, emotions – negative ones in particular – are expected to affect voting for
mostly radical right parties (Vasilopoulos et al., 2019).
While the idea that emotions matter for electoral behaviour, especially for the vote for radical
parties, has gained ground, several theoretical and empirical questions remain open which we pro-
pose to explore. A first question is about which types of emotions do weight in the vote for radical
parties. Do we see an effect for both (lack of) positive and negative emotions, and for different
discrete emotions (see Roseman, 1991)? Second, there is a need to investigate the potential differ-
ences in the role of emotions when it comes to voting for distinct types of radical parties. Many
prior studies focus on radical right-wing parties as these tend to be electorally stronger in most
Western European contexts. Still, this results in limited evidence on whether emotions are equally
relevant in driving the vote for radical left parties.
To address these lacunas, we use panel survey data collected amongst a representative sample
of voters during the 2019 elections in Belgium (RepResent). We measure emotions as a set of dis-
crete emotions (anger, fear, positive emotions) toward Belgian politics. The Belgian context allows
us to test our model on three parties, PTB-PVDA, VB and PP.3 In the French-speaking community,
PTB and PP compete, and in the Dutch-speaking community, PVDA and VB. Belgium is an excel-
lent case as it allows for within-country comparisons between two political systems sharing simi-
larities and differences. Two radical parties in both political systems have experienced an electoral
lift-off during the most recent 2019 elections: PTB and VB in the respectively French-speaking and
Dutch-speaking party system. These parties can be classified as either radical left (PTB-PVDA) or
radical right (PP, PVDA), but are also considered anti-establishment parties due to their anti-elite
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