Voters in stressed systems back change promises without grasping ideology.

Evidence

Even had the clientele of the Nazi Party been of average education and political sophistication, there would be strong reason to doubt the degree to which prior awareness of Nazi ideology among its voters could be claimed. In view of the actual peculiarities of its mass base, the question verges on the absurd. The Nazis promised changes in a system that was near collapse. Under comparable stresses, it is likely that large numbers of citizens in any society (and particularly those without any long-term affective ties to more traditional parties) would gladly support ad hoc promises of change without any great concern about ideological implications. And typically, they would lack the contextual information necessary to assess these implications, even if some stray details were absorbed. We believe this response would be true of any mass public and not only those that, like Germany, had experienced only a brief democratic tradition. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 1975 (#expands, via linked claim)

My argument is that, just as market speculators bet against the movements of the market to profit from fluctuations in the prices of securities, today’s speculative communities do not merely “misjudge” the populist promise (nor do they necessarily place [blind] hope in a coming nationalist utopia). By contrast, they are intent on speculating on the promise’s possible, yet uncertain, outcomes. Nationalism, in that sense, is the symbolic insurance taken out by resourceless speculators, allowing them to wager on political chaos. Put crudely, what is at stake here is not the promise itself (“take back control,” “make America great again,” etc.), but the volatility that the promise is likely to trigger—that is, the distance between the promise and its likely breakdown. — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 39 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Any mass public under system collapse supports radical change promises without ideology — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 1975; Political rightward shifts are constructed responses to organic crises, not mere reflections — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 1099; Group-interest voters lack the contextual grasp to respond ideologically without elite guidance (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Any mass public under system collapse supports radical change promises without ideology #expands (0.92) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 1975
• Populist voters speculatively wager on the volatility promises trigger, not the promises themselves. #complicates (0.72) — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 39