Social factors conducive to popularity of grass roots populist communication moderators in Poland

The aim of this article is to analyze the electorate and the communications of two populist organizations that emerged on the Polish political scene as grassroot movements led from the outside of the party system (Baar, 2009). The authors attempted to describe the ways in which Samoobrona RP and Kukiz'15 have used social conditions, sourced in the Polish experience of an undemocratic regime (1945-1989) and then of the socioeconomic transformation of the 1990s, to build their political power. Samoobrona RP is presented as a party of the electorate of protest, while Kukiz'15 is used as an example of "anti-party" political engagement. Based on available public opinion surveys, the authors attempted to trace distinctive features of Samoobrona and Kukiz'15's electorates, and changes in party support and the make-up of the electorate