Who Reacts to Populist Power? Education, Information Environments, and Immigration Tolerance in 26 European Countries
Tahir AbbasABSTRACT
Objective
Education is associated with tolerance of immigration, but does it shield citizens from populist politics or expose them to it? This article asks how education conditions the association between populist strength and immigration tolerance, and how the information environment shapes that relationship.
Methods
European Social Survey data (2016–2024; 127,675 respondents in 26 countries) are linked to populist vote shares, V‐Dem measures of democratic erosion, legacy‐media capture and government online disinformation, and party positions. Three‐level and fixed‐effects models with education random slopes are estimated.
Results
Populist strength is associated with lower tolerance at the same rate at every educational level. The educated advantage narrows where populists govern amid democratic erosion and, across countries, where governments use social media to spread misleading information. The educated soften on immigration but not on gay rights.
Conclusion
Education protects tolerance in plural information environments but not in one‐sided ones.