Replication Data for: Asymmetric realignment

The second decade of the twenty-first century witnessed a significant ‘rightward drift’ as populists in the West scored striking electoral gains. We argue that this reflects a shift in the power of electoral cleavages that is asymmetric in nature. Specifically, voters for whom immigration is salient are more likely to switch to conservative and national populist parties than to liberal or left-wing parties. We leverage data from three prominent cases, the United States, Britain and Germany, to demonstrate that immigration-specific asymmetric realignment occurred in the three countries. These findings have implications for our understanding of electoral politics, populism and the emerging ‘culture divide’ in party systems.

二十一世纪第二个十年出现了显著的“右倾漂移”态势，西方民粹主义政党在选举中斩获亮眼佳绩。我们认为，这一现象反映了选举分化的力量格局发生了本质上不对称的转变。具体而言，相较于自由派或左翼政党，将移民议题视为核心关切的选民更有可能转而支持保守派与民族民粹主义政党。我们借助美国、英国与德国三个典型案例的数据，证实了这三个国家均出现了针对移民议题的不对称性选民阵营重组现象。上述研究发现有助于我们深化对选举政治、民粹主义以及政党体系中新兴“文化裂痕”的认知。