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Why do security forces vote for far-right parties? Evidence from Europe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2026

Raquel Rego
Affiliation:
ISCTE-Instituto Universitario de Lisboa, Portugal
Jeyhun Alizade*
Affiliation:
Migration, Integration, Transnationalization, WZB Berlin Social Science Center, Germany
*
Corresponding author: Jeyhun Alizade; Email: jeyhun.alizade@wzb.eu
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Abstract

Concerns are rising over far-right support among security forces, given their role in upholding the state’s monopoly on violence. Such support raises fears that far-right ideologies could shape law enforcement practices and undermine democratic norms. Existing explanations often attribute this alignment to authoritarian and law-and-order preferences. Using data from the European Social Survey, this research note examines whether security forces are more likely than the general electorate to vote for far-right parties and identifies the attitudinal drivers of such support. The analysis finds no systematic evidence that security forces vote for far-right parties at higher rates than the broader population. Moreover, immigration attitudes—not law-and-order preferences—emerge as the strongest predictor of far-right voting across both groups. These findings challenge the common view that security forces are uniquely drawn to the far right for authoritarian reasons and underscore the central role of immigration politics in shaping far-right support more broadly.

Information

Type
Research Note
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2026. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of European Consortium for Political Research
Figure 0

Table 1. Means of variables and p-value of t-test of difference in meansTable 1 long description.

Figure 1

Table 2. Predictors of far-right voting among security forces and the rest of the electorateTable 2 long description.

Figure 2

Figure 1. Average marginal effects of attitudinal predictors on far-right vote choice among security forces.Note: The figure displays average marginal effects based on logistic regression models with 95% confidence intervals. The estimates are based on three separate models that used the respective subsamples listed in the figure legend. All models include gender, age, education, and fixed effects for country and survey round as control variables.Source: ESS, rounds 1–9.

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