The new map of political consensus. What is new in the wave of support for the populists?

ABSTRACT

The remarkable result of the 2018 Italian general election reflected the changing priorities of the Italian electorate. We examine similarities and differences in public opinion across various issues and party groupings, and show how the new electoral law and the geography of voting benefited the League and the Five-star Movement the most. Factor analyses indicate that immigration is the issue that most separates parties, while questions surrounding the redistribution of wealth tend to moderate the distance between them. It remains to be seen whether or not the coalition between the League and the Five-star Movement will hold, and whether 2018 is merely a populist ‘moment’ or portends a longer lasting populist period, and a truly new political-electoral geography of Italy.

KEYWORDS:

• Electoral reform
• Rosatellum
• electoral geography
• league
• five-star movement

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Salvatore Vassallo

Salvatore Vassallo is Professor of Political Science at the University of Bologna. His recent books include: Liberiamo la politica, Il Mulino (2014) and Sistemi politici comparati (of which he is coauthor and editor), II Mulino (2016).

Michael Shin

Michael Shin is Professor of Geography at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). He co-authored (with John Agnew): Mapping Populism: Taking Politics to the People (Rowman & Littlefield, 2019); and Berlusconi’s Italy (Temple, 2008).