2025/07/01 by Javier Padilla, Álvaro Canalejo-Molero, Alberto López Ortega · 1 voice · 1 citation
Psychology · Social Sciences · #European Union Policy and Governance #Far right #Law #Political Systems and Governance #Political science #Politics #Populism, Right-Wing Movements #Psychology
paper · doi:10.1177/20531680251357602
published in Research & Politics 12(3) (SAGE Publishing)
openalex publication_date 2025/07/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Can a second far-right party succeed in a country where the radical right was, until recently, absent? Spain’s 2024 European Parliament elections provided a striking answer with the emergence of SALF (“Let the Party Be Over”), a far-right anti-politics platform that captured 4.6% of the vote in its electoral debut, outperforming Podemos and the major regional parties. Through a comprehensive analysis of individual-level data from approximately 38,000 respondents across eleven surveys, we provide the first systematic assessment of SALF’s voters and compare them to other Spanish constituencies. First, our findings reveal an intriguing paradox: while SALF voters self-identify as more centrist than supporters of VOX (Spain’s main far-right party), their positions on substantive policies are similarly extreme. In contrast, SALF’s success stems from a distinctive combination of dissatisfaction with democracy and nontraditional media consumption patterns, especially among young male voters. Notably, while VOX’s earlier rise was primarily driven by Spain’s territorial tensions, SALF’s emergence signals a deeper phenomenon: profound disillusionment with Spain’s political system among specific segments of society.