Jennifer Fitzgerald

The dynamics of issue salience: immigration and public opinion

Avery Lord — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 20:10:32 +0000

The dynamics of issue salience: immigration and public opinion Avery Lord Tue, 06/16/2026 - 14:10

The dynamics of issue salience: immigration and public opinion

By: Hannah L Paul, Jennifer Fitzgerald

Abstract:

Issue salience is an important dimension of public opinion and democratic politics. When mass publics are deeply concerned about particular societal issues, they can shape political debates, contests, agendas, and outcomes. Given the shifting politicization of certain issues in advanced democracies and the heightened importance of people issue positions for their vote choices, fresh insights into the dynamics of issue salience are increasingly valuable. A review of existing research reveals that we have a great deal to learn about the way salience emerges and shifts among regular people in democratic societies. Compounding the need for knowledge about issue salience is the growing diversity of advanced democratic societies.

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Raising a politically engaged generation: when parental influence matters most

Avery Lord — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 20:08:21 +0000

Raising a politically engaged generation: when parental influence matters most Avery Lord Tue, 06/16/2026 - 14:08

Raising a politically engaged generation: when parental influence matters most

By: Pavel Bacovsky, Jennifer Fitzgerald

Abstract:

At what ages are young people most open to political influence? We test the “formative years” model that underscores the importance of childhood experiences for political development against the “impressionable years” model that asserts the primacy of lessons learned during adolescence. To assess the relative merits of these competing models, we develop a new analytical strategy: the Retrospective Family Context approach. We estimate the political engagement levels of 18-year-olds as a function of annual measures of their parents’ political engagement levels over the course of the prior decade. German household panel data analysis shows that parental cues sink in quite effectively during late childhood, ages 9 to 11, and during the late teens. These results illuminate an essential dimension of political development, and they can inform efforts to encourage young people political participation.

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Casting light on citizens’ conceptions of what is ‘political’

Avery Lord — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 20:06:25 +0000

Casting light on citizens’ conceptions of what is ‘political’ Avery Lord Tue, 06/16/2026 - 14:06

Casting light on citizens’ conceptions of what is ‘political’

By: Carl Görtz, Carolin V Zorell, Jennifer Fitzgerald

Abstract:

Existing studies suggest that what people do and do not think of as being ‘politics’, varies a lot. Some citizens embrace narrow understandings, regarding only few issues as ‘political’. While others hold broad conceptions. What remains unclear is to what extent citizens agree on the contents, i.e., which topics are ‘political’. Using representative survey data from the U.S. (N = 1000), this article illustrates the overlaps and differences in conceptions of politics that different groups of citizens hold. Specifically, the results of a cluster analysis reveal five groups. The citizens within each group share similar conceptions of politics, while across groups conceptions differ. We find one group considering everything as political, one not regarding anything as such, and a third one identifying only tax-cuts as ‘political’. In between these extremes, two groups identify politics in terms of rather demarcated spheres of issues: domestic, or cross-border/global issues. Further analyses point to important differences in the groups’ socio-demographic profiles, political interest, and political behaviors. This shows, in their minds, people draw boundaries around politics in quite varied, yet principled, ways. This comes with a meaningful diversity in citizens’ connection to the political world around them, and with important implications for their roles within it.

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To Belong: Feeling “At Home” and Support for Democracy

Avery Lord — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 20:04:13 +0000

To Belong: Feeling “At Home” and Support for Democracy Avery Lord Tue, 06/16/2026 - 14:04

To Belong: Feeling “At Home” and Support for Democracy

By: Jennifer Fitzgerald, Kathryn Schauer, Rachel Janie O’Neal, Pavel Bačovský

Abstract:

What explains support for democracy? We ask this question in the context of scholarly assertions that democratic values are weakening among citizens of long-time democracies, most notably among young people. We leverage a panel survey of young Swedes to explore the development of pro-democratic sentiments over time. Investigating whether belonging—specifically, feeling “at home” in Sweden, the municipality, and the neighborhood—strengthens support for democracy, we find that it does positively influence principled support for democracy. In relative terms, we find the impact of belonging to be stronger than that of well-known predictors such as socio-economic status and social capital. Our analysis stands to inform scholarship on democratic values and to illuminate the implications of belonging for political behavior. It also offers insight into the ways that societal integration in the form of belonging can develop among young democratic citizens: through feeling integrated into a range of social communities.

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Is it so that size matter? Testing the relationship between citizens’ conceptions of politics and their political participation in a new context

Avery Lord — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 19:51:52 +0000

Is it so that size matter? Testing the relationship between citizens’ conceptions of politics and their political participation in a new context Avery Lord Tue, 06/16/2026 - 13:51

Is it so that size matter? Testing the relationship between citizens’ conceptions of politics and their political participation in a new context

By: Carl Görtz, Viktor Dahl, Jennifer Fitzgerald

Abstract:

What is politics according to citizens? This thesis centers around that question and seeks to contribute to our understanding of citizens’ conceptions of politics. It discusses and investigates variations in, origins of, and consequences of con-ceptions of politics.
The theoretical perspectives direct interest to three levels of politics. The first concerns the political macro-level and political culture. The second takes an in-terest in the meso-level of politics and different subcultures. The third focuses on the micro-level, more specifically on individual citizens’ political participation.

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Young citizens’ party support: the “when” and “who” of political influence within families

Avery Lord — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 19:49:55 +0000

Young citizens’ party support: the “when” and “who” of political influence within families Avery Lord Tue, 06/16/2026 - 13:49

Young citizens’ party support: the “when” and “who” of political influence within families

By: Jennifer Fitzgerald, Pavel Bacovsky

Abstract:

Decades of evidence point to the vital role of parents in shaping their children partisan leanings, particularly concerning mainstream parties. And yet the contours of intergenerational influence remain quite obscured. For instance, scholars disagree on when social learning in the household occurs (childhood vs adolescence) and about who is the dominant socializer (mother vs father). Data from a long-term German household panel survey allow for a fine-grained examination of intergenerational influence processes over time. We model the partisan preferences of 18-year-olds as a function of their mothers’ and fathers’ own contemporaneous and past partisan preferences. Our intergenerational inquiry reveals that mothers dominate socialization during childhood while influence in late adolescence is more evenly distributed between mothers and fathers. We also find that mothers have an advantage over fathers in communicating center-left party preferences. These findings have implications for our understanding of socialization, partisanship, and democratic stability.

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Rejecting the radical right: Local inequality and party support

Avery Lord — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 19:48:06 +0000

Rejecting the radical right: Local inequality and party support Avery Lord Tue, 06/16/2026 - 13:48

Rejecting the radical right: Local inequality and party support

By: Jeffrey Nonnemacher, Jennifer Fitzgerald

Abstract:

Does economic inequality motivate support for the populist radical right? Previous studies point in different directions in answer to this question. Some argue that inequality benefits the radical right, while others assert that it instead strengthens parties on the left and undercuts the right. We weigh in on this debate with survey experimental evidence from Sweden. When prompted to think about inequality at the national or local level, respondents on average become less inclined to support the Sweden Democrats, a radical right populist party. These effects are particularly robust and sizable when the matter at hand is local—rather than national—inequality. Furthermore, Sweden Democrat support is weakened most when the local inequality prompt is received by those who are on the radical right ideologically and who express concerns about law and order in society. We argue that to understand inequality effects on voter behavior, it is essential to explore the ways people conceptualize it. This study serves as a reminder to consider the day-to-day implications of macro-economic developments, and it provides a tool for communicating with voters in a way that undercuts the appeals of radical right parties.

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Elections and emotions: voting right-wing populist in Austria

Avery Lord — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 19:44:58 +0000

Elections and emotions: voting right-wing populist in Austria Avery Lord Tue, 06/16/2026 - 13:44

Elections and emotions: voting right-wing populist in Austria

By: Mateusz Leszczynski, Sinan Nadarevic, Jennifer Fitzgerald

Abstract:

Right wing populist voters are characterized by high levels of anger, according to previous work. In this paper, we explore the emotional dimensions of electoral behavior with an eye toward improving our understanding of the ways that voting for right wing populist parties (RWPPs) makes people feel. Panel survey data surrounding the 2017 Austrian national election reveal that before the election Freedom Party (FPÖ) voters are the angriest about politics in comparison to mainstream party voters. However, FPÖ voters experience a significant reduction in political anger from the pre-election period to the post-election period. These RWPP adherents also become less anxious, more hopeful, and more confident regarding Austrian politics in the aftermath of a relatively successful electoral showing by their party. Center-left voters, whose party experienced a disappointing electoral outcome, become politically angrier, more anxious, less hopeful, and less confident after the election. This study leverages research on the emotional terrain of radical right politics and stock theories of electoral behavior to better understand voters, their feelings, and prospects for democratic legitimacy.

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Jennifer Fitzgerald: Best Book Award

Anonymous — Wed, 08 Jun 2022 16:02:12 +0000

Jennifer Fitzgerald: Best Book Award Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 06/08/2022 - 10:02

By Andrew Nonnemacher and Andy Baker

CU Political Science Professor Jennifer Fitzgerald was the 2018 recipient of the Best Book on European Politics and Societies, an award granted by a section of the American Political Science Association. Her pathbreaking book, Close to Home: Local Ties and Voting Radical Right in Europe, describes and provides a novel explanation for the recent rise of far-right political parties throughout much of Europe. In a version of the "all politics is local" axiom, Fitzgerald argues that voters with strong connections to and identities with their localities of residence—their villages, their towns, their cities—are the ones who have driven this rise. Fitzgerald answered several questions about her book for us.

What was the book about?

"The book is about radical right voting in Europe. Radical right parties have been growing in popularity over the last couple of decades. In Close to Home, I ask why some people vote for far right parties while others do not. I also explored the questions of when people first choose to vote for the radical right and when they might subsequently lost interest in doing so. Beyond looking at individual-level choices, I compared small-scale communities to each other to understand why the radical right is more popular in some places than in others. Finally, I also compared countries to each other. Most of the book focuses on France and Switzerland, but other parts of the book also include information about far-right voting in countries across Europe as well as the US."

What about your research interest led you to write this book?

"I have always been interested in extremist politics and in particular the question of what would make somebody support a far-right party. As I watched these parties' electoral support grow over time, I was reading the work by political scientists aimed at understanding why. One thing I noticed was that there was very little attention in the published work to local-level factors and to people's feelings about their local communities. There was a lot of really good research about national-level trends and themes, but not much focus on the small-scale places that people call home. So I applied for a Fulbright grant to conduct field work in France. With these research funds, I was able to spend several months in the Gironde department in the southwest of France. This was an area where the far-right National Front (FN, recently renamed the National Rally) was gaining ground rapidly. This part of the country was especially interesting to me because the region does not conform to typical far-right strongholds—namely post-industrial areas with high levels of unemployment. Instead, the Gironde is primarily made up of small towns and villages with healthy economies and high quality of life. Through side-by-side comparison, I asked what differentiated the communities with high FN support from those with little to no FN support. I talked with mayors from across the region to try to understand these communities and what matters to people who live there. Then I took the things I learned from these interviews and subjected them to a bunch of tests using quantitative and qualitative data from a range of different countries."

What are the main takeaways from the book and why are they important?

"Political scientists already knew that far-right voters view immigration and the European Union very negatively, but I still puzzled over the fact that not everyone who is anti-immigration and anti-EU votes for the radical right. One of the main things I learned through my research was that people with these attitudes who also feel closely tied to their local communities can be drawn to the far right. This happens when they perceive some kind of threat to their hometowns. It also tends to happen for individuals who love their communities but who are not actively engaged in them. Individuals who mainly stay at home and keep their distance from their neighbors and from clubs and organizations but who nonetheless feel strongly about their communities are especially likely to find the far-right appealing. I think one way in which these insights are useful is that it kind of pulls apart the idea of community ties. There are emotional ties, which can make the far-right more attractive, and active social ties, which can do the opposite. By combining field work with statistical analysis, I developed a framework for thinking about community ties as they connect with citizens' electoral decisions."

Why write the book when you did?

"The book took quite a long time to research and write. I was involved in some phase of the project for the better part of twenty years. This was partly because I was also working on other research projects. But I also needed a lot of time to process what I learned during my time in Europe and to package it in a way that would be useful for making sense of the ongoing trends across democracies."

Do you think the findings discovered in your research will continue or are there other factors at play?

"There are so many factors at play. My research illuminates just one aspect of the broader story. But I do think that the local threat dimension will persist. For example, small communities — particularly in rural areas — are in many countries being combined into larger agglomerations. (One term for this is "municipal mergers.") I have found that far-right parties do better in elections when and where this takes place because many people who feel devoted to their towns and villages find these mergers to be offensive and threatening. In turn, they find the appeals of far-right groups, which use rhetoric that romanticizes small scale community and local traditions, to be attractive."

Do you plan to continue doing research specific to this field and if so, how?

"I am working on several adjacent projects, including a study with two of our terrific graduate students (Mateusz Leszczynski and Sinan Nadarevic) on the ways that voting far-right makes people feel."

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2019 Marinus Smith Award Winners

Anonymous — Tue, 23 Apr 2019 20:20:16 +0000

2019 Marinus Smith Award Winners Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 04/23/2019 - 14:20

The Political Science Department would like to congratulate Professor Sarah Wilson Sokhey and Professor Jennifer Fitzgerald on recieving the 2018-2019 Marinus Smith Awards. We feel grateful to have such amazing faculty!

"The Marinus Smith Awards are presented each spring to nominated faculty, advisors and staff members who have made a positive impact on the lives of �Ͼ�Ʒ�� students. Submitting a nomination provides a meaningful way for students to say thank you to outstanding staff and faculty members who have taken the time to show care and concern for those they serve."

Click here to read more about the award! Congratulations Professor Sokhey and Professor Fitzgerald!

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