Ireland Referendum & Portugal Parliamentary Vote: Anti-Elite Votes in Europe Prove Populism’s Potency

Donald Trump’s electoral annihilation of Nikki Haley shows yet again that populism remains a potent force. And recent votes in Ireland and Portugal continue to show that the trend is global.

Ireland might seem to be an odd place for a populist uprising. It has swung sharply to the cultural left in recent years, approving same-sex marriage and legalizing first-trimester abortion by overwhelming margins. Yet even here the voters will put up with only so much social progressivism, as last weekend’s vote decisively rejecting two referenda demonstrated.

About the Author

Henry Olsen

Henry Olsen is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and the author of The Working-Class Republican: Ronald Reagan and the Return of Blue-Collar Conservatism.

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Donald Trump’s electoral annihilation of Nikki Haley shows yet again that populism remains a potent force. And recent votes in Ireland and Portugal continue to show that the trend is global.

Ireland might seem to be an odd place for a populist uprising. It has swung sharply to the cultural left in recent years, approving same-sex marriage and legalizing first-trimester abortion by overwhelming margins. Yet even here the voters will put up with only so much social progressivism, as last weekend’s vote decisively rejecting two referenda demonstrated.

About the Author

Henry Olsen

Henry Olsen is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and the author of The Working-Class Republican: Ronald Reagan and the Return of Blue-Collar Conservatism.