Anger, Partisanship, and the Activation of Populist Attitudes in Mexico

Abstract

This article analyzes the populist activation of the electorate during the 2018 presidential election in Mexico, which requires a set of conditions. First, voters need to report grievances about the country’s political, economic, and social situation. Moreover, it is necessary the role of ambitious politicians to make those grievances salient among voters, in order for voters to be responsive
to candidate’s populist rhetoric and translate their anger into electoral behavior. However, as opposed to previous studies, we argue that not every voter will be mobilized as a response to populist rhetoric, even if they register the same level of populist attitudes. Consistent with the political behavior literature, we argue that voters’ party identifcation constitutes a flter of information that makes co-partisan voters more likely to accept the populist rhetoric when it is consistent with their political predispositions. In other words, if the populist rhetoric contradicts voters’ partisanship, voters will reject the candidate’s populist rhetoric even though those voters report a high level of populist attitudes.