Gender equality salience, backlash and radical right voting in the gender-equal context of Sweden

Abstract

Cultural backlash research explains voting for populist radical right (PRR) parties mostly by socioeconomic factors and anti-immigration attitudes, neglecting the role of gender values. This study addresses this gap by arguing that gender issue salience triggers backlash against liberalising gender values, resulting in PRR votes by people with conservative gender values. This is tested in the gender-equal context of Sweden by analysing national elections data from 2014 to 2018, comparing voting behaviour before and after a period marked by strong gender issue salience. The study demonstrates that (a) the gap between conservatives’ and liberals’ gender values widens, and (b) conservative gender values predict PRR voting in Sweden in 2018 but not in 2014. These findings suggest that salience of liberalising gender values may trigger backlash, which in turn fuels PRR voting.