Where has the protest gone? Populist attitudes and electoral flows in Italian political turmoil

What happens when anti-establishment political actors gain strength, enter institutions, and even become the new establishment? To what extent are their elec -toral profiles a nd t he d emands b ehind t hem n ormalised b y t he s ystem? Th is ar ticle uses ITANES surveys to investigate voters’ reactions to the different paths taken by the three main protagonists of the 2016-2020 Italian populist wave: the M5S, the Lega, and FDI. In particular, it uses panel data to study the evolution of populist attitudes and protest drivers, as well as their connection with el ectoral flows a nd p arties’ s trategic choices. The m ost s triking c hange c oncerns t he r edefinition of th e po litical ou tlook of 5-star voters, who have significantly reduced their populist stances. However, the trans-formation of the M5S into a government party produced significant o utflows of vo t-ers who already in 2016 expressed greater resentment towards political elites. Thesedynamics have largely favoured parties of the populist right – the Lega and then espe-cially FDI – which have preserved or even re inforced their (electoral) profile a s a nti-establishment parties.