The Power of Populist Discourses: The Effect of Populist Radical Left and Right Rhetoric on Political Preferences

Populist discourses have recently received great popular support in many countries, with radical left- and right-wing populist leaders competing to mobilize dissatisfied voters around their rhetoric. One possibility for the increased success of the populist radical right is that its discourse offers simpler explanations and proposals for complex issues. Alternatively, it may also be that the radical right discourse has attracted more voters because it is more widespread on traditional and social media. To test these hypotheses, a framing experiment was conducted in the United States, Brazil, and Italy. The results show that only the exposure to the radical left discourse increased support for the radical left political platform, while being exposed to radical right discourse was not associated with higher support for a radical right platform. The findings suggest that although the radical right has been more successful in recent elections, radical left proposals may be more attractive to people exposed to those ideas.