Populist voting beyond western borders? Populist attitudes and electoral behaviour in East Asia

Populist voting beyond western borders? Populist attitudes and electoral behaviour in East Asia

Marta Gallina, Stefano Camatarri & Lewis A. Luartz

Abstract

Literature suggests that traces of populist rhetoric can be found also in Asia. However, the issue of populism at the citizen level in this context remains open. While we know that populist attitudes are important determinants of the vote choice in Western countries, there is little evidence so far that this pattern exists in Asia. Recent protests in Taiwan and Hong Kong offer an unprecedented opportunity to study this, as mobilizations in both cases reflect a deep political discontent towards the establishment that might have activated populist attitudes. This paper aims to test whether populist attitudes explain party support by using data from Taiwan’s and Hong Kong’s 2016 post-electoral surveys contained in Module 5 of the Comparative Study of Electoral System. Findings show that, controlling for all relevant factors, populist attitudes tend to predict anti-incumbent electoral choices; however, this effect primarily concerns the youngest generations of voters in both countries and is most evident in Taiwan. This has relevant implications, as it suggests that populist attitudes do “travel” beyond the West, but they need certain conditions to be activated and become a driver for populist support.

Gallina, M., Camatarri, S., & Luartz, L. A. (2025). Populist voting beyond western borders? Populist attitudes and electoral behaviour in East Asia. Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/17457289.2025.2570376