One-in-three European voters now back populist or authoritarian parties

The report, published on 22 October by think tanks EPICenter and Timbro, tracks 260 parties across 31 countries since 1946. While support for these groups hovered around 10 percent for decades, it climbed to nearly 30 percent by 2019. Germany currently serves as the most prominent example of this shift, where the Alternative for Germany (AfD) secured over 20 percent of the national vote, dwarfing the combined 13.8 percent share of radical left-wing parties.

Researchers attribute this success to a deep-seated erosion of trust in political elites. EPICenter’s Emelie Franzén noted that mainstream parties struggle to address modern concerns, leaving a vacuum that populists fill with superior communication strategies during crises like the pandemic or the war in Ukraine. According to Timbro director Andreas Johansson Heinö, these parties remain ideologically diverse; while many are culturally conservative and eurosceptic, their economic platforms are split between the left and right. The influence of these movements extends beyond their own electoral success, as they frequently push mainstream rivals toward more radical stances on issues like migration.