Although conceptually and empirically separate, populism, affective polarization (AP) and
sovereignism are key explanatory factors of today's politics and voting behavior. Italy emerges then
as a crucial case as these elements are strongly present both at party and general public levels.
Despite research dedicated lot of attentions on populism and, to a lesser extent to AP and
sovereignism in Europe, few studies observe the links among these phenomena. Do sovereignist
sentiments overlap with populist views? Are they linked to Affective polarization in European
elections? How do they interact in voting participation? Our study addresses these questions by
looking at the Italian public during 2024 EP elections. Within this context, the turnout level has
confirmed the scarce participation of national elections in 2022, descending below the 50%. Very
little is known, however, about how the different forms of sovereignism and their interactions with
AP and populism, which increasingly tend to characterize the European political process, are
associated with voting. To fill this gap in the literature, we use an original survey on Italian public opinion conducted
during 2024 European elections. The main findings broaden our understanding of the determinants
of voter turnout and the health of democracy.
