Realignment within the right field: competition between the mainstream right and the far right

Abstract

Advanced democracies have seen the emergence of a new cleavage between universalism and particularism. While alignments to the new left and the far right–at the extremes of the cleavage–are highly segmented, the fiercest competition occurs within ideological fields. In order to determine to what extent the ‘right field’ either remains fragmented or is merging into a homogenous ideological block, this article studies the determinants of consideration sets and vote choice within the right field across age groups with original survey data from France, Germany, Switzerland and the UK. It is found that while the choice between the mainstream and the far right continues to be structured along the universalism-particularism cleavage, younger generations in particular consider both far and mainstream right parties viable options, even if they hold market-liberal attitudes or group identities associated with the mainstream right among older voters. These findings show an eroding segmentation within the right field.