Uninformed or informed populists? The relationship between political knowledge, socio-economic status and populist attitudes in Poland

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article uses data from the 2015 Polish parliamentary election to test the relationship between political knowledge, socio-economic status and populist attitudes. Recent scholarship has challenged the idea that populism is an unsophisticated form of politics that appeals primarily to the ill-informed and those of low social status. We find that while lower levels of political knowledge are associated with higher levels of populism, it is nevertheless ‘informed populists' who are more likely to vote for populist parties, while ‘uninformed populists' are more likely to abstain. These findings challenge the stereotype of populism as ‘politics for stupid people'.