Nearly a third of voters for Spain’s main far-right party are aged 18-24, one poll found
MADRID – Young people in Spain are helping to drive a surge in support for the far-right party Vox amid growing concern over immigration.
The hard-right party, which is the third largest party in the Spanish Parliament, has vowed to send back all illegal migrants if it takes power.
Some 17.4 per cent of Spaniards support Vox compared with 12.4 per cent at the last election in 2023, according to a poll by 40dB published by Spain’s El País newspaper last month.
Younger Spaniards are increasingly turning to the right-wing populist party. The survey found 29 per cent of Vox voters were aged 18-24, whereas only 9.9 per cent were aged over 65.
Among the youngest group of Vox voters, 38 per cent were men, while 20 per cent were women.
Eva Fernández, 23, who works in customer services in Barcelona, said young people were concerned about immigration, access to affordable housing and job security.
“Immigration has risen in recent years. In some places you go to [in Barcelona] or in Reus, it is like being in another country or north Africa,” she said.
“The Left has abandoned its position on certain issues. What concerns us is immigration, security, access to housing and work stability.”
In Catalonia, a right-wing Catalan independence party, Aliança Catalunya, formed in 2020 has soared in popularity, with one poll giving the party between 10-14 seats in the Spanish parliament if an election were held today.
Anthony Sánchez, 28, an activist and historian who lives in the city of Sabadell, near Barcelona, said he regarded immigration, access to affordable homes and the independence of Catalonia as the most important issues.
“The massive immigration in recent years has degraded our public services and our culture [in Catalonia]. The large number of offenders from abroad has endangered our public security,” he said.
Analysts say Vox, like Reform in Britain, is attracting support because its populist message on issues like immigration strikes a chord with young people.
Spain’s Socialist-led coalition government has been in power since 2018 and many first-time voters have never known any other type of government.
Miquel Ramos, a journalist who specialises in the extreme right, said many young people saw parties like Vox as an alternative.
“The extreme right sells itself as the fight against established power. There is disappointment with the Left on issues like the housing crisis,” he said.
“The right has been identifying itself in the issue of immigration with ideas of security and scarcity of resources. Some young people buy this idea.”
Ramos said Spain had not experienced large-scale immigration until the 1990s, when the economic boom attracted tens of thousands of Moroccans and Romanians, so the phenomenon is relatively new.
Parties like Vox and far-right social movements like Nucleo Nacional, a paramilitary organisation, have exploited anti-immigrant feelings among some young people.
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“There is racism towards the sons and daughters of immigrants, even though they are Spaniards,” Ramos said.
He said support for Vox would rise if voters deserted the opposition conservative People’s Party (PP).
Ramos said the PP was borrowing policies from Vox by suggesting the expulsion of migrants who do not adapt to life in Spain and constructing holding centres for migrants.
