John B. Judis famously illustrated that the populist explosion we’re witnessing across the world today is not perhaps as unique as we fear it is, and indeed has roots stretching back a few hundred years. Nonetheless, the stagnant wages, corporate malpractice and a widespread fear of being left behind by the global economy have created fertile ground for the common language Michael Kazin describes as being required for regular Joe’s and the wealthy politicians who claim to speak for them to create a united front against the elite who they believe work against their interests.

The role unemployment has played in creating this environment was underlined by a recently published paper from Tilburg University, which examined the fallout from the Great Recession in terms of both the growth in unemployment and the rise in immigration across the western world to test their role in the populist politics we see today.

The analysis suggests there is a distinction between the populism fed by economic concerns and populism fed by cultural ones.  The analysis, which focused on the United States, explored the current political landscape through the lens of both the Great Recession of 2008 and the 2014 immigration crisis.

Twin pillars of populism

The analysis found that those who lost their job during the recession were significantly more likely to vote for Bernie Sander’s left-wing brand of populism, with those who were already unemployed before 2008 more likely to be Hillary Clinton supporters.

By contrast, those living in areas most affected by new immigrants during the 2014 crisis were much more likely to vote for Donald Trump.

The author believes that their work is the first to fully explore the key drivers behind support for either left or right-wing populism at the individual level.

“Brexit, the rise of numerous radical left and radical right parties in Europe, as well as Donald Trump’s presidency and Bernie Sanders’s popularity during the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election, present a surge in populism,” they say. “This study has investigated whether it is economic insecurity or cultural anxiety that has been driving the growth in populism.”