Media cues and citizen support for right-wing populist parties

Right-wing populist parties are thriving across Europe. Their success is usually attributed to demand-side voter factors and supply-side factors explaining differences in success between countries and parties, such as the role of the media. This study focuses on the interplay of these factors and adds to the literature on media and political populism by (1) its individual-level focus, accounting for indirect effects, and (2) the use of an experimental design employing a party cue and two right-wing populist cues: an immigrant cue and an anti-politics cue. The authors find effects of certain cues on key attitudes driving right-wing populist support—anti-immigrant attitudes and political cynicism. Furthermore, through these attitudes, the cues indirectly affect probability to vote for such a party.