Just Accepted Manuscripts
Articles

Keeping the left alive: exploring voter support for the Greens and Left Alliance (AVS) in the 2024 European elections

PDF Just Accepted (English)
Supplementary Materials - Just Accepted (English)
  • Marco Improta,
  • Elisabetta Mannoni
Marco Improta
University of Siena
Elisabetta Mannoni
University of Siena
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36253/qoe-17432

Pubblicato 2025-06-18

Parole chiave

  • Greens and Left Alliance,
  • 2024 European Elections,
  • Italy,
  • Survey,
  • Interviews

Come citare

Improta, M., & Mannoni, E. (2025). Keeping the left alive: exploring voter support for the Greens and Left Alliance (AVS) in the 2024 European elections. Italian Journal of Electoral Studies. https://doi.org/10.36253/qoe-17432

Copyright (c) 2025 Marco Improta, Elisabetta Mannoni

Creative Commons License

TQuesto lavoro è fornito con la licenza Creative Commons Attribuzione 4.0 Internazionale.

Abstract

This paper explores the motivations of voters who supported the Greens and Left Alliance (Alleanza Verdi e Sinistra, AVS) in the 2024 European elections in Italy. In 2024, AVS nearly doubled its national vote share compared to the 2022 general elections, with an increase of more than 600,000 absolute votes – a growth second to none among Italian parties in that election. The goal of this study is to explore the reasons that drove individuals to choose this relatively small and previously marginal alliance. We investigate whether support was primarily driven by ideological alignment, policy positions on salient issues, candidate appeal, leaders’ character or other factors. Drawing on a two-step mixed-methods design, we combine data from an original post-election online survey of AVS voters with insights from semi-structured in-depth interviews. This research design mitigates common limitations in electoral studies, particularly the challenge of understanding voters’ underlying motivations for their vote choice. Our findings suggest that voters were primarily motivated by AVS’s perceived ideological clarity and consistency, as well as by its prioritization of workers’ rights, environmental protection, and international solidarity – rather than by individual candidates or leaders. The study contributes to the understanding of the 2024 European elections and offers broader insights into Italian politics, the dynamics of left-wing and green parties, and issue-based voting.

PDF Just Accepted (English)
Supplementary Materials - Just Accepted (English)

Riferimenti bibliografici

  1. Bartels, L. M. (2000). Partisanship and voting behavior, 1952-1996. American journal of political science, 35-50.
  2. Biancalana, C., Seddone, A., & Gallina, M. (2024). Italy: Political Developments and Data in 2023: A Year of Consolidation. European Journal of Political Research Political Data Yearbook, 63(1), 248-259.
  3. Blais, A., & Massicotte, L. (1996). Electoral systems. Comparing democracies, 2, 40-69.
  4. Budge, I., Farlie, D., & Laver, M. (1983). Shifts of meaning within explanations of voting and party competition. Electoral Studies, 2(1), 23-38.
  5. Carmines, E. G., & Stimson, J. A. (1980). The two faces of issue voting. American Political Science Review, 74(1), 78-91.
  6. Ceron, A., Berloto, S., & Rosco, J. (2025). Unity and coherence: the mobilizing effect of valence attributes in the 2022 Italian elections. South European Society and Politics, 1-22.
  7. Chiaramonte, A. (2023). Italy at the polls. Four lessons to learn from the 2022 general election. Contemporary Italian Politics, 15(1), 75-87.
  8. Chiaramonte, A., & Emanuele, V. (2017). Party system volatility, regeneration and de-institutionalization in Western Europe (1945–2015). Party Politics, 23(4), 376-388.
  9. Della Porta, D. (2014). In-depth interviews. Methodological practices in social movement research, 228-261.
  10. De Sio, L., & Lachat, R. (2020). Issue competition in Western Europe: an introduction. West European Politics, 43(3), 509-517.
  11. De Sio, L., Boldrini, M., Cataldi, M., Crulli, M., Emanuele, V., Gatti, M., Mannoni, E., Riggio, A. (2025). Telescope Public Opinion Watch: A two-round analysis on Italian public opinion and political preferences in 2024. OSF. https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/PRSZD
  12. Dinas, E. (2012). The formation of voting habits. Journal of Elections, Public Opinion & Parties, 22(4), 431-456.
  13. Downs, A. (1957). An economic theory of political action in a democracy. Journal of political economy, 65(2), 135-150.
  14. Fisher, R. J., & Katz, J. E. (2000). Social‐desirability bias and the validity of self‐reported values. Psychology & marketing, 17(2), 105-120.
  15. Garzia, D., Ferreira da Silva, F., & De Angelis, A. (2020). Image that matters: News media consumption and party leader effects on voting behavior. The International Journal of Press/Politics, 25(2), 238-259.
  16. Gatti, M., & Mannoni, E. (2023). Le elezioni regionali del 2023 nel Lazio: tra astensione, volatilità e preferenze da record, la vittoria schiacciante del centrodestra. Istituzioni del federalismo: rivista di studi giuridici e politici: XLIV, 1, 2023, 147-177.
  17. Guest, G., Bunce, A., & Johnson, L. (2006). How many interviews are enough? An experiment with data saturation and variability. Field methods, 18(1), 59-82.
  18. Improta, M., Emanuele, V. & Angelucci, D., (2022). Fuga dalle urne: affluenza mai così bassa nella storia della Repubblica, Centro Italiano Studi Elettorali (CISE) available at https://cise.luiss.it/cise/2022/09/27/fuga-dalle-urne-affluenza-mai-cosi-bassa-nella-storia-della-repubblica/
  19. Improta, M., Mannoni, E., Marcellino, C., & Trastulli, F. (2022). Voters, issues, and party loyalty: The 2022 Italian election under the magnifying glass. Quaderni dell’Osservatorio elettorale–Italian Journal of Electoral Studies, 85(2), 3-27.
  20. Kostelka, F., & Blais, A. (2021). The generational and institutional sources of the global decline in voter turnout. World politics, 73(4), 629-667.
  21. Mannoni, E. (2025). Pro-environmental voting: What it is, how to measure it, and its determinants among contemporary European voters. Parliamentary Affairs, 78(1), 77-96.
  22. Miller, W. E. (1991). Party identification, realignment, and party voting: Back to the basics. American Political Science Review, 85(2), 557-568.
  23. Mosley, L. (2013). ‘Just talk to People’? interviews in Contemporary Political science. Interview research in political science, 1-28.
  24. Newell, J. L. (2024). Italy the day after the European parliament elections of 8 and 9 June. Contemporary Italian Politics, 16(3), 263-265.
  25. Sandri, G., & Seddone, A. (2015). Sense or sensibility? Political attitudes and voting behaviour of party members, voters, and supporters of the Italian centre-left. Italian Political Science Review/Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica, 45(1), 25-51.
  26. Van Biezen, I., Mair, P., & Poguntke, T. (2012). Going, going,... gone? The decline of party membership in contemporary Europe. European journal of political research, 51(1), 24-56.
  27. Whiteley, P. F. (2011). Is the party over? The decline of party activism and membership across the democratic world. Party Politics, 17(1), 21-44.