‘Disrupt or be disrupted’, mainstream parties warned as voters turn to populists

Alternative for Germany (AFD) supporters attend the party’s election campaign launch in Halle, 25 January 2025. Younger and older voters in Germany were equally likely to be ‘outsiders’, the TBI’s research found. Photograph: Hannibal Hanschke/EPA

Voters in western democracies are turning away from mainstream political parties and towards populists because they are losing faith in their ability to implement meaningful change, a major report based on surveys of 12,000 voters has found.

The popularity of traditional centre-left and centre-right parties across major democratic countries has plummeted from 73% in 2000 to 51% today, according to research by the Tony Blair Institute.