Extreme right‐wing voting in Western Europe

Abstract In this study we explain extreme right‐wing voting behaviour in the countries of the European Union and Norway from a micro and macro perspective. Using a multidisciplinary multilevel approach, we take into account individual‐level social background characteristics and public opinion alongside country characteristics and characteristics of extreme right‐wing parties themselves. By making use of large‐scale survey data (N = 49,801) together with country‐level statistics and expert survey data, we are able to explain extreme right‐wing voting behaviour from this multilevel perspective. Our results show that cross‐national differences in support of extreme right‐wing parties are particularly due to differences in public opinion on immigration and democracy, the number of non‐Western residents in a country and, above all, to party characteristics of the extreme right‐wing parties themselves.