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Re:US Ends Support For Ukrainian F-16s by inglor_cz on Sunday March 09, 2025 @11:24AM (#43309863)
This is happening in other countries as well. It is often the internal periphery (former GDR, rural France etc., poorer parts of the EU) that votes for anti-system parties out of bitterness.

The liberal elites are paying for their inability to keep the societal compact somewhat alive. If too many people don't have jobs and can't find a dentist, they will start a "voter disobedience".

Of course the second order effects will be huge, but it is, in a sense, necessary development. A democratic country has to be able to keep a majority of its people reasonably satisfied and well-off.

Re:US Ends Support For Ukrainian F-16s by timeon on Sunday March 09, 2025 @12:14PM (#43310498)
This seems to me more like simplistic attempt to quickly find the reason. In my poorer corner of Europe we vote for these "anti-system" parties for more than decade. One could argue that they actually are the system.
Re:US Ends Support For Ukrainian F-16s by inglor_cz on Sunday March 09, 2025 @12:29PM (#43310682)
I think it was already 20 years ago when a French sociologist whose name I have forgotten showed that the share of vote for the Front National clearly correlated with various negative economic variables, including "distance from the closest still functional railway station".

FYI I don't believe in "THE REASON" or "THE CAUSE" and I am wary of people who reduce complex issues such as voting patterns to one single root cause, but to deny that economic hardship is a significant factor in anti-system vote seems to be wishful thinking to me.

Show me a relatively rich neighbourhood or voting district (say, over 130 per cent of average national GDP) with above average anti-system vote share, anywhere in Europe. I don't think you will find it. People who have a lot to lose don't rock the boat.