
"Young supporters of the French far-right National Rally cheer after the EU elections" | Sarah Meyssonnier/Reuters
Picture an average European extremist right-wing voter. If you are a young, left-leaning person, chances are you thought of the quintessential white man in his 40s, who is perhaps a bit too obsessed with some fascist dictator and blames immigrants for a recent job loss. Of course, that makes sense: the principle of democracy is that everyone votes for whatever they think serves them best. However, the results of the recent elections to the European (EU) Parliament point to a completely different demographic taking an interest in the policies of the extreme right.
For the 2024 EU parliament elections, among Germans aged 16 to 24, approximately 16% voted for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), making the party second only to the Union of Christian Democrats (CDU/CSU). Compared to the 2019 election, the percentage of AfD voters in the youngest age range increased by 11 percentage points, while support for the more left-wing Greens dropped by 23 percentage points.
Other European countries also share a similar pattern: 30% of young Poles voted for the far-right Confederation party, 32% of French citizens younger than 24 voted for the National Rally, 25% of Portuguese under 34 said they would vote for Chega! in polls, and so on. Concurrently, despite growing support for the radical right, far-left parties are still quite popular among these generations. It’s official: young people are more likely to go extreme, when compared to older voters. At the same time, Generation Z and Millenials are known to care more about policies usually associated with the left, such as climate change mitigation and gender equality; how is it, then, that they are swinging right? What exactly does the European youth want?
The Romans Had Circuses, We Have Social Media
Unlike the previous generations, this one often does not feel loyalty towards specific parties, meaning the youth “swings” a lot when it comes to elections. Therefore, even the seemingly most insignificant occurrences have the power to alter an entire election. With the rise of social media platforms, these “insignificant occurrences” can easily be sent out to millions at a time, pushing a certain narrative onto their numerous users. Much of this target audience also lacks digital literacy, making them more likely to fall victim to false news and political propaganda; as a matter of fact, according to a 2021 survey, 64% young Europeans use Instagram as a significant source of information, while 25% uses Tiktok. When these platforms become relied upon as a main or only source of news, misinformation is invited to run wild.
Several radical right parties mastered the skill of utilizing social media for their benefit. For instance, the 28-year-old Jordan Bardella, who will most likely succeed Marie Le Pen as the leader of the French National Rally, became a sensation on Tiktok.
"Bardella eating candy" | via Tiktok
His content includes edits from his speeches and POV videos, painting a portrait of a cool and relatable politician. Just look at this guy; I mean, if I had no context, I would simply vote for him for being silly and eating candy. Bardella knows his audience very well, not only getting his image of a cool, relatable guy down to the detail, but also hosting events that are a given to be popular with the youngest voters, such as a night at the Parisian club Duplex.
“Piwo z Mentzenem” (Polish for “Beer with Mentzen”) is yet another successful attempt at curating an image through social media. Mentzen, the leader of the party New Hope, which is a part of the far-right Confederation coalition in Poland, organizes evenings with beer from his own brewery throughout Poland. During these events, which are heavily popularized with the use of social media, the participants can buy beer and ask Mentzen questions.

Mentzen, of course, is under no obligation to answer them, often dodging the uncomfortable, such as questions about abortion–a highly heated topic in Poland, where bans on it have been placed in the recent years. He shows up to these meetings beer-in-hand, sometimes already tipsy, and instead focuses on questions which help build his image of a relatable and "normal" guy, contrasting himself with the "woke leftists" that just don't know how to relax.
Although campaigns like these may appear as nothing more than anecdotes, in reality they are carefully calculated ways of winning over specific groups of voters. Social media gave rise to a new brand of politicians, who want to come across as celebrities or influencers to the youngest voters, rather than policy-makers, riding on the newer generation's need to be different than their predecessors. The Romans claimed that people will be happy as long as they have bread and a circus; in our times, however, these became replaced by beer and Tiktok.
They Just Don't Want to Be Homeless
Young people all across Europe are facing one crisis after another. From housing to the cost of living, nothing feels affordable anymore. While rents and house prices are skyrocketing in many European states, wages are not adjusted accordingly.

Housing cost overburden is defined as the percentage of people spending more than 40% of their disposable income on housing. The statistics presented here date back to 2022; since then, in most countries with over 10%, the situation has only been getting more dire.
The Netherlands has been particularly affected by its housing crisis. They were short of approximately 390 000 homes in 2023. Housing is scarce, which makes investors take advantage and increase prices. The middle-income class, to which many young people belong, has been severely hit by a mix of rent increases in the private sector and overcrowding in the social housing sector. They neither qualify for rent benefits and social housing, nor can afford to rent, let alone buy, properties from private investors.
Although according to a UN report, the crisis has been caused by poor decisions by the government, Geerd Wilders, the leader of the far-right Party for Freedom (PVV), paints a different narrative. He blames an influx of immigrants. Logically, it makes enough sense: immigrants are new people that require accommodation, which adds fuel to the fire. Although in truth, the Dutch housing market just hasn't recovered since the 2008 economic crash, with the situation exacerbating every year as the government failed to address it adequately, parties like PVV use this fear, alongside pre-existing prejudices that people have, to their benefit. The housing crisis in particular is tied to the rise of the radical right in the Netherlands, but right-wing parties in other European countries build similar arguments. Since older generations of voters are more likely to have secured housing, unlike the younger ones who are still settling in, far-right becomes popular with even most moderate young people.
All Of the Above and More
Of course, there are far more reasons for the youth's shift to the right. The immigration crisis, started by the influx of refugees in 2015, has been arguably handled poorly by European governments. Higher immigration rates do coincide with higher crime rates in, for example, Germany, which is also a major concern for young voters. The right offers "easy" solutions to this problem, ranging from stricter immigration laws to mass deportations. In addition, conflicts, primarily in Eastern Europe and the Middle East, increased tensions and further polarized the already divided public. And, lastly, in the mostly parliamentary Europe, there are plenty of small parties, especially on the more ununited left, which in a way take away voters from larger parties.
Simultaneously, although the support for far-right parties is growing, they are still far from majority in the EU Parliament and individual governments. Although the voters have been steadily moving right, we cannot forget that the newest generations swing all ways, and there is no telling of what the future elections will bring.
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