Nativism, Migrant Integration Policies and Right-Wing Populist Vote in Europe

Nativism is one of the core explanations of the success of right-wing populist parties in Europe. However, scholarly attention usually focuses on the multidimensionality of anti-immigrant attitudes, emphasizing either the cultural or economic accounts, neglecting the impact of integration policies. Using data from the European Social Survey and Migrant Integration Policy Index, including an update of the latter in the course of the H2020 project MICADO, this paper investigates the relationship between nativism, voting for right-wing populist parties and migrant integration policies. The assumption being that nativist attitudes will be less salient in countries with lower inequalities between native and incoming populations and, thus, the propensity to vote for these parties will be lower in societies with better integration policies. Overall, our findings suggest that public policies directed towards migrant integration should play a substantive role in our understanding of right-wing populist party support.