Date: 2019
Type: Article
A Trump effect on the EU's popularity? : the US presidential election as a natural experiment
Perspectives on politics, 2019, Vol. 17, No. 2, pp. 399-416
MINKUS, Lara, DEUTSCHMANN, Emanuel, DELHEY, Jan, A Trump effect on the EU's popularity? : the US presidential election as a natural experiment, Perspectives on politics, 2019, Vol. 17, No. 2, pp. 399-416
- https://hdl.handle.net/1814/66079
Retrieved from Cadmus, EUI Research Repository
Did the election of Donald Trump affect the popularity of the European Union (EU) in Europe? Theoretically, both a positive rally effect (due to a perceived external threat) and a negative domino effect (due to resignation among Europhiles and/or reinforcement among europhobe nationalists) are plausible. We treat Trump's unexpected victory as an external shock and use a Eurobarometer survey that was conducted in all EU-28 member states four days prior to (control group) and six days after the election (treatment group) as source material for a natural experiment. The analysis reveals that the election of Trump caused a significant increase in the EU's popularity in Europe immediately after the election. This Trump effect is considerable in size, roughly equivalent to three years of education. Gains in popularity were particularly high among respondents who perceived their country as economically struggling and, surprisingly, among the political right, suggesting that Trump's victory broadened and ideologically diversified the EU's base of support.
Additional information:
Published online : 29 October 2018
Cadmus permanent link: https://hdl.handle.net/1814/66079
Full-text via DOI: 10.1017/S1537592718003262
ISSN: 1537-5927; 1541-0986
Publisher: Cambridge Univ Press
Sponsorship and Funder information:
German Research Foundation (DFG) within the framework of the DFG research unit Horizontal Europeanization [FOR-1539]
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