The far right has a woman problem. A leading Dutch political
scientist once famously described populist radical right parties in
Europe as “genuine Mannerparteien” (men’s parties), given that their support base is overwhelmingly skewed toward men.
Austria’s recent presidential election, which began last year, is a
prime example. The race, which pitted center-left candidate Alexander
Van der Bellen against far right candidate Norbert Hofer, appeared to
hinge on a wide gender gap. A sizable majority of women (69% of women aged 29 or under and 60% of women aged between 30 to 59, according to one poll)
voted centre-left to beat out far right candidate Hofer. The same poll
found 47% of men aged 29 or under and 42% of men aged 30 to 59 voted
centre-left. [...]
Harteveld’s research suggested women were less likely to support a
party that was stigmatized by others. “Using women’s rights and equality
as a discourse surrounding FN’s nativist core message is likely to
help,” he said. “For some, including many women, it reduces the signal
that voting for FN is not at all acceptable.”
In breaking with her father’s extremist vision of the party, Le Pen has broken from
anti-Semitic and homophobes views, while embracing historically
left-wing causes, including gay and women’s rights. In doing so, the FN
has become less menacing, according to an annual barometer
(link in French) of the far-right party; French voters that saw the
party as a “danger for democracy” dropped from a peak of 75% the late
1990s to 54% in 2015.
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