Place-based resentment and party support in multiparty systems A study of three consecutive elections in the Netherlands

Place-based resentment is often used to explain why some populist radical right parties have gained popularity in rural areas. However, few studies have analysed associations between place-based resentment and party support outside of the US. We propose three theoretical scenarios about how the politicisation of place-based resentment could change patterns of party support in multiparty systems. We analyse changes in the individual level relationships between place-based resentment and party preferences in the Netherlands over a period of three elections: 2017, 2021 and 2023. Our findings indicate that voters with higher place-based resentment were more likely to support the radical right in all three elections, but, importantly, these associations disappeared once other political attitudes were taken into account. Place-based resentment does not form a unique explanation for radical right support in the Netherlands. However, after the sudden increase in salience of agricultural policies and urban-rural divides in the Dutch political debate, place-based resentment became a unique additional explanation for party support by 2023. Taking other relevant political attitudes into account, place-based resentment is positively related to support for the agrarian-populist BBB, and negatively related to support for the two largest left-wing progressive parties (PvdA/GL and D66). This study adds to our understanding of electoral consequences of politicization of urban-rural divides, and hopefully paves the way for cross-national comparative research across European multiparty systems.