Who is the Populist Voter?

Abstract

Chapter 6 considers the question: Who is the populist voter? Because of its essentially exploratory nature, analysis in this chapter leaves quite a few doors wide open for further research. It begins with a delineation of the populist voter’s worldview, key beliefs, and voting attributes, which, to a very large extent, are characterized by irrationality, biased judgment, and political irresponsibility. It then uses the six consecutive electoral contests (five general elections and one plebiscite), which took place in Greece between 2009 and 2015 to empirically exemplify populist voting in real action.