We use self-determination and world view defense theories to explicate the psychological
roots of identitarian voting in recent US, UK, and EU elections. We test our theory using the
2016 US election as a case study, data from a representative sample of nearly half a million
Americans, and a measure of racial animus derived from Google search data. We find that
worry has a strong and significant positive association with Trump’s vote share, as predicted
by worldview defense theory. However, this is reversed in counties with high levels of
relatedness – one of the three basic psychological needs emphasized by self-determination
theory. The positive relationship between racial animus and Trump also loses significance
once an interaction between racial animus and relatedness is introduced. These results imply
that identitarianism is driven at least in part by a desire for in-group affiliation emerging out
of worldview defense and unmet basic psychological needs.
worldview defense theory
,group identity
,voting
,well-being
,self-determination theory
