The Berlusconi Voter

Abstract

Chapters 1–3 looked at Berlusconism “from the top down”— its policy, its ideology, and its place in Italian history. This chapter will examine it “from the bottom up,” looking at who the Berlusconi voters are and what makes them tick. These are complex issues involving millions of “ordinary” people who leave little trace and are hard to interpret. Over the last twenty years, particularly the last ten, experts in public opinion, communication, and electioneering have analyzed vast quantities of data on Italian voting behavior and provided us with a credible picture of the votes cast and the motivations behind them. This chapter aims to show how the historical interpretation of Berlusconism outlined in the first three chapters is not only confirmed by the electoral data but can shed light on some of the issues raised by the data that scholars have hitherto only partly explained.