Why do people turn away from mainstream politics and support populist parties in Europe? What are the concerns of online supporters of populist political parties and street-based groups in Europe? And what can mainstream parties do to win them back?
Over the last decade, nationalist populist parties and movements have been growing in strength across Europe, and an increasing amount of their activity takes place online.
In 2011, Demos conducted a survey of over 13,000 Facebook supporters of populist parties in 12 European countries in order to better understand who they 'digital populists' are, what they think, and how their online behaviour maps onto what they do in the real world. The results of this work was published in The New Face of Digital Populism, released in November 2011.
Individual country reports from Hungary and Sweden have since been published.
On May 15, in Copenhagen, Demos will launch the third in a series of country-specific papers, focusing on Denmark and Facebook fans of the Danish People's Party. Demos collected responses from over 500 fans of the party, and will present brand new data on who these people are, what motivates and concerns them, their social and political views, and the extent of their involvement in the party itself. This is a unique new methodology and casts light on an important new group of activists who use social media to share and amplify their message.
This event is supported by the Open Society Foundations.
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