LEFT, RIGHT, AND ANTISEMITISM IN EUROPEAN PUBLIC OPINION

• Main Author: Jeffrey Е. Cohen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Center for Study of Religion and Religious Tolerance 2018-11-01
• Series: Politics and Religion
• Subjects: antiesmitism; European public opinion; prejudice; political leftright continuum; anti-immigrant attitudes
• Online Access: http://politicsandreligionjournal.com/index.php/prj/article/view/322

Antisemitism has long been found on both the political far-right and farleft. The recent rise in antisemitism worldwide raises the question of whether current antisemitism is found more with the far-right or far-left, the former a function of right-wing populism and the latter with what has been termed the new antisemitism. This paper uses data from the 2014 round of the European Social Survey in 20 nations to test for the connection between ideological selfplacement and antisemitic attitudes in mass publics. Analysis finds greater levels of antisemitism with the extreme far-right compared to the far-left, but extreme leftists appear slightly more antisemitic than moderate leftist. Further, there is less antisemitism than anti-Muslim and anti-Roma (Gypsy) attitudes at all positions on the left-right continuum. The conclusion puts the findings into context and suggests directions for future research.