The far right is generally more successful today than at any other point in recent history. The chart below shows the average vote-share of far-right parties in 20 ‘advanced democracies’. In the past 70 years, their share of the vote has dramatically increased. Yet even with this dramatic rise over time, these parties are finding it difficult to pose a serious political threat to mainstream parties and form a government in more than a few isolated countries like Austria, Hungary, and Poland. Since 1950, the far right has received on average 4.13% of votes, and very rarely do they cross 10% of the vote.
Meanwhile, research has shown how important fundraising is to electoral success. In my ongoing work, I argue some of this lack of far-right success can be attributed to their difficulty raising funds relative to other parties. Given this, the public financing of elections arguably serves to disproportionally benefit the far right.
