Communicating a common front: mainstream party rhetoric and affective polarisation towards the radical right

2025/09/03 by Markus Kollberg, Ivo Bantel · 2 voices · 3 citations
Engineering · Social Sciences · #Electoral Systems and Political Participation #Engineering #Front (military) #Gender Politics and Representation #Law #Linguistics #Mainstream #Media studies #Philosophy #Political economy #Political science #Politics #Populism, Right-Wing Movements #Radical right #Rhetoric #Sociology

paper · pdf · doi:10.1080/01402382.2025.2531711

published in West European Politics, 1-31 (Taylor & Francis)

openalex publication_date 2025/09/03 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/15

Abstract

Does mainstream party rhetoric explain affective polarisation towards the radical right? Extant work documents a pronounced affective divide between mainstream and radical right voters. Yet, the origins of this divide remain largely unknown. This article investigates negative rhetoric by mainstream parties as a predictor of affective polarisation towards the radical right. It argues that signals of a ‘common front’ – coordinated negative rhetoric against the radical right by all mainstream parties – drive voters’ affective evaluations. The article combines an analysis of elite discourse and public opinion data from Germany, with a novel measure of targeted negative elite rhetoric, as well as causal evidence from an experiment. The analysis identifies a correlation between negative rhetoric from all mainstream parties and affective polarisation towards the radical right. Experimental tests of the previously identified rhetoric yield further evidence that cross-party messages contribute to affective polarisation. These findings underscore the importance of coordinated mainstream party action in shaping public responses to radical right challengers.

Citations

• Valence as Macro-Competence: An Analysis of Mood in Party Competence Evaluations in Great Britain
• Competition Between Unequals: The Role of Mainstream Party Strategy in Niche Party Success
• The Causal Effect of Radical Right Success on Mainstream Parties’ Policy Positions: A Regression Discontinuity Approach
• ‘Fear and loathing across party lines’ (also) in Europe: Affective polarisation in European party systems
• Divided by the Vote: Affective Polarization in the Wake of the Brexit Referendum
• When Does Accommodation Work? Electoral Effects of Mainstream Left Position Taking on Immigration
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• Affective Polarization and the Populist Radical Right: Creating the Hating?
• Does mainstream populism work? Populist rhetoric and the electoral fortunes of mainstream parties
• Why accommodate? How niche pressure and intra-party divisions shape mainstream party strategies
• Does accommodation work? Mainstream party strategies and the success of radical right parties
• Fear and Loathing across Party Lines: New Evidence on Group Polarization
• Affect, Not Ideology
• If you can't Beat them, Join them? Explaining Social Democratic Responses to the Challenge from the Populist Radical Right in Western Europe
• “I Disrespectfully Agree”: The Differential Effects of Partisan Sorting on Social and Issue Polarization
• Experiments in Intergroup Discrimination

Cited by

• Voices Against the Populist Far-Right?

Discussions

• 💥Online first: "Communicating a common front: mainstream party rhetoric and affective polarisation towards the radical right" by @markuskollberg.bsky.social & @ivobantel.bsky.social doi.org/10.10 [bsky, 14 points, 0 comments]
• @markuskollberg.bsky.social und @ivobantel.bsky.social zeigen, dass vor allem über Parteigrenzen hinweg koordinierte Botschaften einer 'common front' die affektive Abgrenzung der Wähler*innen gegenübe [bsky, 4 points, 0 comments]

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