Radical-right voters support political parties that have a rather extreme policy program, especially with regard to immigration and diversity. In the literature, opinions differ on the motivations of these voters. On the one hand, it is claimed that these voters fully express their opinions, and usually this implies a hostile attitude toward immigrants. On the other hand, this kind of voting behaviour is considered as mainly a protest vote, as these citizens are no satisfied by the 'business as usual' approach of the mainstream political parties. Within that option it is assumed that these voters mainly want to express their discontent about politics, without agreeing necessarily with the full party program.
In the Belgian Election Survey that was conducted for the elections of June 2024, it was asked whether respondents actually believe their preferred political party will implement its campaign pledges, even when these pledges run counter to international obligations with regard to human rights. A first analysis suggests that radical right voters in fact have the highest score on this variable, as they assume that their preferred political party will indeed take measures that run counter to the international legal obligations of Belgium. For all other political parties, voters tend to assume that they will not necessarily follow up on all of their electoral pledges. Using the standard framework of cognitive dissonance, we examine what this implies with regard to the relation between radical right voting, and the future of the European human rights regime.