In contrast to the American right-of-center, the European right is far younger, and far more populist. Trump trailed Clinton by 18 points among millennials in the 2016 election, but young voters are overwhelmingly supporting statist right-wing politicians in 2017 races in Europe.
This is already changing the political landscape. The European Court of Justice, the EU’s version of the Supreme Court, has just ruled that employers can ban their employees from wearing religious symbols at work. This has its most serious implication for Muslim women who cover their hair for religious reasons.
While the court ruled that Muslim symbols cannot be singled out (a boss couldn’t allow yarmulkes or cross necklaces while banning hijabs, for instance), its decision to allow a ban on religious attire in the workplace is seen as a potential canary in the coal mine of what’s to come in Europe.
While Congressman Steve King gets slammed for his semi-racist tweet about immigrants (with blowback coming from GOP leaders and the media alike – for once, they agree on something!), European politicians are actually gaining ground with millennials by issuing similar anti-immigrant barbs.
Tomorrow, the Netherlands will elect a new Prime Minister (or perhaps re-elect their old Prime Minister). PM Mark Rutte faces a steep challenge from Geert Wilders of the anti-Islamist “Party for Freedom.” They, along with other candidates, will participate in a televised debate on Tuesday night (which feels like having your bachelorette party the night before your wedding, but whatever, Denmark. You do you.)
The Party for Freedom platform includes lowering the income tax rates and cutting foreign aid, but his similarities to American conservatives stop there. Some of Wilders’ greatest (by that, I mean worst) hits include wanting to close all mosques and ban the Qur’an. His platform also mentions ending public funding for windmills, which so perfectly on-brand for the Netherlands there was no way I wasn’t going to mention it here.
Between 2006 and 2016, support for Wilders’ party among 18-25 year olds grew by 20 points.
Millennials in France have boosted Marine Le Pen’s National Front to prominence in advance of the French election next month. National Front used to be such a fringe party that supporters would only hang up posters under the cover of night; now, Le Pen is leading in the polls. According to Business Insider, “She performs well in all categories of younger voters: those under 25, under 35 and under 45. Her worst results are among pensioners.”
Why would young Europeans be so much more likely than young Americans to turn to fringe anti-immigrant politics?
“In France, nearly a quarter of workers under 25 are unemployed, compared to a national jobless rate of about 10 percent,” says Business Insider. Germany and the Netherlands, however, have the two lowest rates of youth unemployment in the European Union. Economics cannot explain away the xenophobia we are seeing in Europe.
There are notable exceptions to the trend in Europe, specifically Spain and Portugal. The Iberian states have not seen a rise in anti-immigrant parties in part because neither country has taken in many migrants, compared to the huge influx faced by Germany, Italy, and others.
Axios explains that young people are drawn to the statist right by exasperation: “Migrants and refugees have provoked an “us vs. them” mentality amongst disaffected European millennials as they witness their nations welcome outsiders while their own prospects remain stagnant.” The overall trend is a result of the convergence of the migrant crisis along with an economy that leaves many young adults feeling left behind.
