Contrary to popular opinion, Europe has not seen a sharp rise in far-right support since the start of the crisis

A common theory is that voters are more likely to transfer their support to far-right political parties during periods of economic crisis. Cas Mudde argues that despite the widespread popularity of this idea, there is little evidence that Europe has actually experienced a shift to the far-right since the beginning of the financial crisis in 2008. He notes that more than a quarter of the EU’s 28 Member States have no far-right party of any standing, and of the countries which do have notable far-right parties, there is a fairly even split between those which have experienced an increase in support and those which have not.