Class Voting in Illiberal Hungary

Ákos Huszár

Europe-Asia Studies, 2025, vol. 77, issue 5, 750-772

Abstract: This article analyses how social class is associated with party preferences in today’s Hungary. I ask to what extent traditional class voting was present during the 2022 elections. Contrary to the classic pattern, my results show that negative class voting can be observed in Hungary, where left-wing parties are less popular amongst workers than amongst the middle classes. At the same time, right-wing government parties can rely on a broad social coalition of supporters as their highest support is amongst the upper and the lower classes. I argue that this constellation has emerged because the governing parties have been successful in masking class inequalities and uniting the nation through the broad notion of ‘middle class’, denying the antagonism between capital and labour, promising social mobility and promoting a nationalist ideology. At the same time, the opposition has failed to draw attention to sharp and growing social inequalities.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1080/09668136.2025.2511055

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