Aside from prejudice and xenophobia, lately popular support for the far right seem to be mostly driven by a widespread disaffection with the European Union and representative democracy in general. Compared to the earliest DEREX data of the first three waves (2002–2007) of the European Social Survey, the most recent data of the last three waves (2008–2013) shows that in the past few years the rate of those strongly opposing the establishment’s political institutions increased in 18 out of 29 European (mainly EU) countries from an earlier average of 17 to 25%. The number of voters expressing extreme distrust of the European Parliament (EP) also shows a clearly rising trend. In 24 out of 29 European countries the number of those with absolutely no confidence in the EP has increased.

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