The Left's Divided Constituency and the Construction of a Unifying Narrative

How has the narrative of the social-democratic parties changed in the era of globalisation and in the face of the strengthening of the European integration process? To what extent has the socialist parties’ adherence to the European project transformed their electoral constituency? How has the socio-demographic composition of the social-democratic electorates changed in recent decades? Analysing data from three different sources—(a) elections; (b) parties’ location in the political space; and (c) surveys on voters’ attitudes and opinions—this chapter attempts to provide some answers. By combining the available data, the authors offer a long-term perspective on the ideological, electoral and organisational crisis that hit social-democratic parties in the 2000s in most European countries. Focusing especially on the results of the 2019 European elections, this chapter analyses the most recent changes in the electoral constituency of the European socialist parties and the growing policy congruence between the positions of the social-democratic parties and the opinions of their voters. Oftentimes, that congruence has occurred at the expense of an equally growing in-congruence between the positions of the electorate as a whole and the policies espoused by the social democrats.