Attitudinal Dispositions to Vote for a ’New’ Extreme Right-Wing Party: The Case of Vlaams Blok

Abstract. The Vlaams Blok, a ‘new ’ extreme right-wing party, grew substantially during the 1980s in the Flemish part of Belgium. Two alternative hypotheses about the motivation and attitudes of voters for extreme right-wing parties are examined. Is the voters ’ choice for such a political party inspired by substantive considerations about the programme of the party (the ‘rational choice ’ model), or is right-wing voting mainly an expression of protest? The Flemish part of the Voters ’ Study relating to the 1991 General Election contains useful data for answering these questions. The likelihood of voting for the Vlaams Blok, as a function of thirteen relevant attitudinal variables, is analysed by means of logistic regression. Voting for the Vlaams Blok is determined by a negative attitude towards immigrants. Nationalist attitudes and feelings of social isolation seem to have a partial and moderate additional impact. In addition, there is some evidence that a vote for the Vlaams Blok should also be seen as a protest vote by some of the voters