Perceptions of populist radical right mainstreaming as a threat to democracy: evidence from Italian voters

This paper explores a little-studied side of populist radical right (PRR) mainstreaming: if and to what extent these parties are considered to be legitimate democratic players by voters. Using survey data from Italy, we find that both Brothers of Italy (FdI) and the League are perceived as threats to democracy by specific groups of voters, although the former raises more widespread concern than the latter. Additionally, this perception is not uniform at the mass level. Surprisingly, an uneven pattern also characterises the reciprocal views of the two PRR parties: FdI is considered to be a threat to democracy by the League’s sympathisers, but the opposite does not occur. This suggests that even in contexts where PRR politics has been normalised for decades, as in Italy, different PRR parties can be perceived very differently by voters.