Italian-style Putinverstehen: Support for Putin among Italian voters

Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine made Putin’s regime and policies more salient across western democracies. Particularly populist and extreme right leaders openly supported Putin and mimicked his nationalistic rhetoric justification. We assess to which extent electorates of Italian right-wing populist parties differ in their support for Putin’s ideas compared to supporters of more centrist parties. We describe Putin’s geopolitical and ideological claims and using original data we test to what extent this “Putinist” worldview is accepted or rejected by Italian voters in the aftermath of the invasion of Ukraine. We find that putinism is a strong predictor of voting for Lega and particularly robust for voting Fratelli. Right-wing populist supporters adhere to “Putinism” even if their party leaders (as is the case for Fratelli) adopt clear anti-Putin stances and we discuss the findings’ implications for transnational politics and the appeal of authoritarianism.