Pew: Europe’s Far-Right Anger Is Moving Mainstream

In Foreign Policy, Bruce Stokes, director of global economic attitudes at the Pew Research Center, has a brief summary of Pew’s latest research on the subject of the Alt-Right in Europe (“Europe’s Far-Right Anger Is Moving Mainstream”):

In the wake of the Brexit vote in Britain and the recent Italian referendum, and with national elections looming in 2017 in the Netherlands, France, and Germany, there is concern that Europe may be inundated by a populist wave, driven in large part by right-wing parties exploiting anti-globalization, anti-immigrant, and anti-Muslim sentiments. Indeed, the strategy seems to be working: Polls show that people who have a favorable view of the National Front (FN) in France, the Alternative for Germany (AfD) in Germany, and the Party for Freedom in the Netherlands tend to be more negative about immigrants, refugees, and Muslims than their fellow countrymen. In addition, they are more euro-skeptic and more wary of globalization than their compatriots.

The question that cannot yet be answered is whether this minority view could become widely shared in the coming months. A Pew Research Center survey in 10 European Union countries this year notes that it already has in Poland and Hungary, where there is not much difference in public sentiment about diversity, immigrants, or Muslims between those who favor the ruling right-wing parties and the views of those who do not favor them.

Stokes summarizes the numbers, focusing on France, Germany, and the Netherlands.

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