Populist attitudes and other socio-political views and psychological traits of the UK populationA dataset based on an original survey conducted on Prolific (Nov-Dec 2020)

Abstract

This dataset is the result of an original survey designed by an interdisciplinary team of researchers from National Universtity of Distance Education (UNED), University of Zaragoza, University of Córdoba and University of Valencia. The goal of the survey was to better understand the relationship between populist attitudes and relevant socio-political and psychology items and indexes. The UK was selected as case study given the lack of similar studies in this country and the relevance of the data to better understand the political context that had been heavily impacted by the Brexit referendum and proces of separation from the European Union. The survey was theoretically informed and included among others: Populism, Elitism and Pluralism items by Akkerman et al. (2014) (14 items) New items design for a new Multidimensional Scale of Populist Attitudes (37 items) (Olivas Osuna 2021; Olivas Osuna et al. 2024; Olivas Osuna et al. forthcoming) Conspiracy Beliefs items (8 items) (Bruder et al. 2013; Brotherton et al. 2013) Social alienation index (6 items) (Bélanger et al. 2019) Justification of violence index (6 items) (Bélanger et al. 2019) Radicalised network (3 items)(Moyano 2011) Meaning in life (presence and search)(4 items)(Steger et al. 2006) Bordering attitudes  (6 items)(Olivas Osuna et al. forthcoming) Endorsement for political parties Items reflecting level of agreement with the main slogans and arguments used by British Eurosceptics (11 items) Items on satisfaction with democracy and importance of democracy and with illiberal views (ESS) Left-right ideological self-placement Socio-demographic variables (age, religion, education, etc.) Fieldwork was conducted between 17 November and 4 December 2020. Participants were recruited following socio-demographic representativity criteria via the online platform Prolific. Survey were collected via Google Forms (Survey title: Political and social views in the UK). Files uploaded include: Total responses received (N=849) (.xlsx file)  Responses analysed once participants failing attention checks were eliminated from the sample (N=748) (.csv file) Survery questionnair (.pdf file)