Il voto per il Movimento 5 Stelle al Sud tra disagio economico e antipolitica

The 2018 general election saw the impressive success of the Five Star Movement. Unlike the previous election, when the party’s electoral base was homogeneous at national level, in the 2018 election the 5SM won the majority of its votes in the South of Italy. Which factors led so many people to vote for the party? Were these factors similar throughout the country, or did they vary across different geographical areas? In what terms did the territorial distribution of votes reflect the economic, social and political characteristics of the local context? Based on the Itanes post-electoral surveys, the article compares the profiles of 5SM voters in the South of Italy with those in other regions. Socio-demographic dimensions, political attitudes and voters’ positions on key questions, are examined together with more general information on the characteristics of the local context (e.g. labour market statistics). Our main argument is that the electoral success of the 5SM in one part of Italy only was due to its ability to catalyse voters’ attention around the issue of (real or perceived) economic difficulties, and hence to win in those areas where the impact of such difficulties was higher.

Keywords: Populism; Economic voting; territorial cleavages