How education, generation and gender jointly structure green and radical right voting

Abstract

This article refines our understanding of the socio-structural basis of voting for green and radical right parties by studying how formal education, generation and gender interact. Given the emergent nature of the GAL-TAN cleavage, it, first, theorises that educational gaps in voting for green and radical right parties have widened across cohorts. Second, it argues that this generational widening of the education divide may be gender specific. In line with the argument, the results from age-period-cohort (APC) analyses on data from the European Social Survey (ESS), rounds 1–10, for ten Western European countries show a successive widening of educational gaps across generations. This holds for both men and women regarding voting for the radical right. Concerning green voting, it applies especially to women, with highly educated millennial women being most attracted to green parties. These patterns imply that the GAL-TAN cleavage crystallises with generational replacement.