Linking religiosity, LGBTQI+ attitudes, and Populist Radical Right: How context matters—Evidence from Italy, Hungary, and the Netherlands

This article examines how religiosity and attitudes toward gender and LGBTQI+ rights intersect in shaping support for populist radical right (PRR) parties in Europe. Using four waves of the European Social Survey (2016-2024), we compare Italy, Hungary, and the Netherlands, three countries that exemplify divergent trajectories of secularization and gender politics. By adopting an individual-level perspective, we find that religiosity does not structure PRR support in Italy, plays a limited but visible "vaccine" role in the Netherlands, and becomes a positive "fundamentalist" driver of support in Hungary, where religion is strongly politicized. It also finds that conservative attitudes toward gender and LGBTQI+ rights are less influential than expected. The comparative lens reveals that religiosity produces distinct electoral effects across countries, underscoring the need to integrate context-sensitive approaches in the study of PRRs.