Politics in Western democracies has become increasingly populist and polarized. My research investigates the causes of these developments and seeks to understand how some of its undesired consequences might be addressed. Using survey experiments, natural experiments, and fine-grained electoral data, I explore how voting behavior is shaped by emotions, identity, and strategic behavior. For example, I explore how memory policies shape public opinion, and how voters respond to cooperation between mainstream parties and the far-right. I am also involved in a large-scale panel study that explores dynamics of issue-based and partisan affective polarization and their relationship in the context of multi-party systems.Â
Do Mainstream Parties Lose from Cooperating with Right-Wing Extremists?
Bastian Becker and Anselm Hager
[under review]
The rise of the far-right poses a dilemma for mainstream parties: avoid cooperation and align with the left, or work with the far-right and tolerate extremism. Does cooperation with the far-right hurt mainstream parties' electoral support? This study makes use of a natural experiment in Germany. In January 2025--less than a month before a contested national election--the center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), for the first time, passed a motion with the help of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). Using a regression discontinuity design, we find that citizens became more likely to support the CDU after it decided to cooperate with the far-right, while the AfD lost support. We argue that the gain in CDU support is likely due to increased authenticity: The findings suggests that voters reward the CDU for pursuing its agenda openly, even when this results in tactical alignment with the far right.