Immigration sceptics, xenophobes or racists? Radical right‐wing voting in six West European countries

Abstract Given how central the immigration issue has been for the new radical right‐wing parties in Western Europe, many have turned to immigration‐related factors in trying to explain their emergence and electoral mobilisation. This research has convincingly shown that immigration scepticism (i.e., wanting to reduce immigration) is among the principal factors for predicting who will vote for a radical right‐wing party. However, earlier studies have often uncritically equated immigration scepticism with xenophobia or even racism. By using data from the first round of the European Social Survey (2003) involving six West European countries (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, the Netherlands and Norway), this…