Outside the Ballot Box: Who Is the Italian Abstainer?

The abstention rate was one of the most striking results of the 2022 Italian general election, when the proportion of non-voters reached a peak (36%) in ‘first-order’ elections and underwent its largest increase. This chapter provides an initial assessment of the individual-level motivations behind this behaviour, focusing on three possible sets of determinants: interest in politics and political information; social centrality and social insecurity; and political integration. The analyses, based on LaPolis Electoral Observatory surveys, confirm that abstention is a multi-faceted phenomenon with multiple causes, ones that overlap and mutually reinforce each other. Those who did not vote because they ‘could not’ remain a substantial proportion of abstainers in 2022. However, for most of those who did not vote, it was not a case of being prevented from doing so: abstention was an explicit choice. A deficit of representation has acquired prominence in explanations of voluntary abstentions in Italy. The findings underline the importance of examining the interplay between social malaise and overtly political malaise. Their different manifestations are traced back to the recent evolution of the national political system, the role of grand coalition governments, and the partial drying up of the populist political supply since 2018.