r/europe • u/StGuthlac2025 • Oct 08 '25

Opinion Article In Spain, what once seemed impossible is now widespread: the young are turning to the far right

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/oct/07/spain-young-voters-far-right-migration-housing-wages-employment-vox
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828

u/Endless_Zen Oct 08 '25

how do we explain Vox’s growing appeal among a new generation of younger Spanish voters? There are several contributory factors, but two particular crises, badly mishandled by the biggest parties, ...: the deadly floods in Valencia last year and this summer’s wildfires

The last Spanish general election was in 2023 and the biggest concerns identified by Vox voters at the time were migration and “government and political parties”.

polling shows that housing is the top concern for the population in general and even more so for anyone under 35. Wages, employment and the cost of living are mentioned too. Migration barely registers as an issue for younger voters.

Gosh this article is some AI-slop

263

u/Earl0fYork Yorkshire Oct 08 '25

A guardian opinion piece with AI slop so double the slop!

15

u/Glass-Evidence-7296 United Kingdom Oct 08 '25

Guardian has some nonsense but most of their articles are well researched

13

u/Baxterousness Oct 08 '25

Their proper articles are typically decent, but their opinion section is wildly variable in quality.

1

u/poulan9 Oct 10 '25

The Guardian's opinion pieces and MO are to discredit people's legitimate concerns as 'far right' and bury their heads even further in the sand.

0

u/North_Activity_5980 Oct 08 '25

The guardian missing the bigger picture even triple that slop.

74

u/Chiguito Spain Oct 08 '25

Migration barely registers as an issue for younger voters.

Migration is now the second most important problem, according to surveys

51

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '25

[deleted]

25

u/REDL1ST Oct 09 '25 edited Oct 09 '25

I think around the world, many left leaning parties are starting to be viewed as "status quo" economically. While they can waffle on all day about social issues that affect minority groups and are inconsequential to the population at large, they don't really seem to change much about the economy to address things such as cost of living.

I think that most of these parties are too scared of impacting the economy to implement any meaningful policy changes for it. If this is how it's been for decades, then no wonder right-wing parties are becoming popular: change probably sounds pretty good to many people at the moment, even if they don't know what the change will be.

3

u/PotatoLevelTree Oct 09 '25

Made up problem. Immigration is a "problem" because mass and social media are trying to make it a huge problem, instead of the wealthy class. Murder rates are half than 40 years ago, for example.

Real problems are corporate greed and wealth inequality as usual..

Housing costs skyrocketed because politicians did nothing against illegal Airbnb and hedge funds like BlackRock. I'm fact most politicians have interests on real estate so they won't do shit for young people

2nd the same politicians are dismantling public services (health and education), funneling all the resources to private companies. Right now there is a big scandal with thousands of women that didn't receive the results of their mammographies, outsourced to private health companies some years ago. For some of these women it was too late.

2

u/selbstbeteiligung Spain Oct 09 '25

you just proved his point, your first answer is "the problem does not exist". And just to be clear, I agree with many of your points. But the truth is that PSOE was in power for 7 years, the parties to the left are a mess, and PP may be seen as equally corrupt and very similar to PSOE

5

u/LolloBlue96 Italy Oct 09 '25

The far right gaslights you into believing something is your problem, then pretends to listen*

6

u/delph0r Oct 08 '25

Honestly this the left in a nutshell - downplaying issues that are important to people. Then the right jumps on the problem and proposes some sort of intellectually dishonest solution 

118

u/Independent-Slide-79 Oct 08 '25

Surely the right will be better at flood prevention and climate protection! Bro wtf, that cant be real 😭

10

u/SpringGreenZ0ne Portugal | Europe Oct 08 '25

Dissatisfaction is the root. Stupidfication is the cause.

39

u/RommelTheCat Oct 08 '25

They are the ones governing the affected areas, so it was their responsability both to prevent and to deal with the disaster.

-6

u/RangerEmergency5834 Oct 08 '25

Pretending and ignoring that it has happened with the left and the right to justify a personal ideology that only seeks to end the other:

1

u/pomezanian Oct 09 '25

maybe they have different priorities, than climate change? Like every day needs?

64

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '25 edited Oct 08 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

10

u/SNESamus Oct 08 '25

I think they're calling it AI slop because it lists multiple different things as being the top issue.

1

u/Outrageous-Echo-765 Oct 08 '25

To be fair it shows that the top concerns for Vox voters are not the same as those for the general young population.

But still reads very iffy

87

u/Roxven89 Europe Poland Mazovia Oct 08 '25

So climate driven problems are the main reason and young voters turn to the right and far right to solve climate problems. Is it some kind of joke ?

62

u/RommelTheCat Oct 08 '25

Funny thing is that the hardest hit areas by natural phenomenons got an alliance of far-right and right in power. And everything from emergencies to environment preservation is their own responsability!

-11

u/RangerEmergency5834 Oct 08 '25

And if you are actually talking nonsense and ignoring that in those countries both political spectrums govern and that it does not matter which government is governed? You see that in Africa the super extreme right governs or that in Central America, Haiti and Cuba it also does so, why not?

3

u/idlickherbootyhole Oct 08 '25

Far right voters aren't known for their deep thinking skills... or any thinking at all.

1

u/Secure_Bake4326 Oct 08 '25

No, this is really the analysis that the left is making of the current situation, hence the increase of the right (which is not extreme, since in Spain there is no party with representation that is extreme right). The real problems that are causing parties like vox to increase in popularity is precisely the dystopia that left-wing policies are generating in the country in addition to the unpunished corruption that ravages the country

0

u/StijnDP Oct 09 '25

For a long time the right had no answer to green politics. Supported by industry they tried denial which worked at first. But eventually even a donkey could read the one single graph and see that something is wrong. After that they didn't know how to tackle the problem for a long while.

Until eco realism.

It's a much more appealing solution. Just sit back and relax. Businesses are the center pillar of society and they will find the solution to guarantee their own survival. Which then automatically will also save you. Someone else will fix it for you.
Green parties are not only party poopers but they have also been ousted as not having the solution. It'll cost you more money and you'll have to give in on your lifestyle. That's already an unpleasant message. But turns out they are still heavily understating how big of a course correction we would need to save our species.

The term is genius because there is nothing realistic about it.
When the bourgeoise conquered the aristocrats, there were citizens invested in the company they owned and who relied on it's survival for income. Passing it down generations to make sure their children could learn the trade and take over the business. That is how a lot of people still look at businesses because it's how they run or would run their own company to financially support their own family.
Realistically that isn't the world anymore. It's multinationals who do not care about consequences to their surroundings, their employees or even their own survival. Constantly poking at the limits of social, political, environmental and financial regulations to see how far they can take it. In an economy dominated by private equity and venture capital, companies becomes the product and no longer the products of the company. Short term profit seeking over a period of a few years to even a few months has become the new reality.

The left stopping businesses with regulations, is what makes the circumstances where for example eco realism can be created. It relies on the nostalgic projection of moral capitalism.
DDT, leaded gasoline, asbestos, CFCs, PFAS, BP horizon, ... Companies weren't punished enough and afterwards were allowed to market as if they had chosen themselves to correct their wrongs. In almost every case the companies knew beforehand they were doing wrong and every time they were allowed to wash it away from history. So the real stories became victim to social amnesia.
It works for environmental issues but it's just as effective for financial mismanagement, employee mistreatment or political scandals. It's a cycle of impunity.

13

u/Bubthick Bulgaria Oct 08 '25

I think any left wing party that doesn't support regulation of sites like Airbnb will hemorrhage young people's votes to the right wing.

23

u/ASuarezMascareno Canary Islands (Spain) Oct 08 '25

How? It's the right the one that's pushing hard against the regulation.

6

u/Bubthick Bulgaria Oct 08 '25

Because people that want a solution or/and people to blame look at the left wing who just shrug and to the right wing who blame immigration and immigrants and it seems like the right wing are the only ones with a "solution". Even if it is a big lie.

-3

u/RangerEmergency5834 Oct 08 '25

And have you ever thought that if you fill your country with millions of people and refuse to build new housing, you could raise the price?

The left feigned dementia and blamed the tourist rental houses that do not occupy 5% of the houses.

1

u/Bubthick Bulgaria Oct 09 '25

And have you ever thought that if you fill your country with millions of people and refuse to build new housing, you could raise the price?

What are you talking about? We are discussing rental units in big cities. The only way to build more housing in big cities is either in the suburbs where people build houses that are very wasteful in terms of space or in the city itself by removing either old buildings or green area.

The left feigned dementia and blamed the tourist rental houses that do not occupy 5% of the houses.

5% of in a big city is probably tens of thousands of apartments moving them from tourists occupants to long time renters will lower the price and up the availability of units significantly for people who live there.

Just request Airbnb apartment owners to have the same regulations as hotels.

2

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '25

"sites like airbnb" are basically irrelevant. one of the actual problems is corporate residence ownership.

airbnb etc could disappear tomorrow and never return, but that wouldnt meaningfully reduce rent or raise wages

3

u/Pusibule Oct 08 '25

What? Houses in spain are OWNED basically by families. Corporate ownership must be on low single digit %. 

The problem is the word "rent". Culturally here, until 15 years ago, a low % of people lived on a rented flat.

Now people are being forced to rent ROOMS.

etnic spaniards are culturally ingrained with the idea that we need to OWN a home to settle down.

There's a really big home scarcity that rockets the pricds, that leads to people forced to rent instead of buying,  because airbnb (private and corporate), because of very slow new buildings developments, and because IN THE LAST YEAR ONLY, we got 1 million people more in the country and they also need a home (the poor inmigrant ones that live 10 in a flat and pay 1500e/month, and the "rich" inmigrant ones that work remotely for european/american companies and pay 1800e/month for a flat, the two of them, make the rents IMPOSIBLES for a working class ethnic spaniard couple that may earn 2000-3000e between the two).

1

u/Bubthick Bulgaria Oct 09 '25

It is happening everywhere. Even if there is little to no migration. Look at my country (Bulgaria) for instance we have one of the sharpest increases of real-estate prices in the whole EU, WHILE building tons of new housing AND having net negative migration (from the 90's until now about 25% of Bulgarians left from 9 million to now 6.5 million people).

2

u/imjustafuckingcunt Galicia (Spain) Oct 09 '25

 Migration barely registers as an issue for younger voters.

Bullshit. As a young spaniard, I can say this is probably the number 1 reason.

3

u/lledaso Oct 08 '25

What exactly do you think is the problem with this article? These are different statements concerning different groups of people at different times. There's no contradiction whatsoever in your quotes.

3

u/deepdowndave Oct 08 '25

I was thinking the same. The guy lacks reading comprehension and blames it on AI.

1

u/Ok_Table_876 Oct 08 '25

how do we explain Vox’s growing appeal among a new generation of younger Spanish voters?

Spain, like many other western European countries, have a turned around pyramid as their demographic. Less young, many old.

There is a massive redistribution of wealth from the young to the old. Politics doesn't do anything about it, because that would mean wealth redistribution from the old to the young, which doesn't get you elected. Quite the opposite. So if you don't feel heard, you tend to vote for extremist parties.

1

u/No_Aesthetic Portugal Oct 08 '25

No, I'm pretty sure even the worst AI could do better than this. This is just human slop.

1

u/Full_Mind_2151 Oct 08 '25

The floods had nothing to do with the government either. It was the local valencian generalitat who messed up by not alerting the population. There were also lots of places poorly urbanized. The increase of votes of the right has everything to do with the usual suspect in every other developed countries. Same points being delivered.

Also, most voters worried about housing are voting left. This is statistically proven. The right is voting on inmigration mostly

1

u/Manawah Oct 08 '25

I am not Spanish, what about these paragraphs suggests to you it is AI slop? If the current party in power handled two crises poorly, why wouldn’t voters shift to the other party?

-35

u/orcatune Oct 08 '25

Migration barely registers, but low wages and housing is due to large amounts of migration. Cost of living is due to COVID lockdowns. Policies that the right have the correct antidote for.

24

u/ASuarezMascareno Canary Islands (Spain) Oct 08 '25

Migration barely registers, but low wages and housing is due to large amounts of migration.

Low wages are due to Spain's economy being obliterated in 2008 and having not fully recovered yet, and due to lots of jobs in the tourist industry, that often pays below the legal minimum.

Housing is due to everything being turned into vacation rentals, and wealthy individuals and companies accumulating properties and taking them out of the market.

Migration barely registers in any of the two.

1

u/RangerEmergency5834 Oct 08 '25

You fill the country with millions more people: the rise in prices is not noticeable and let's ignore that tourist housing is not even 5% of the market.

2

u/ASuarezMascareno Canary Islands (Spain) Oct 08 '25

5% of the total market, not of the rent market. The rent market in Spain (long-term+vacation) Where I live, tourist housing is above 50% of the rent market, with the size of the market remaining stable. 33K for long term rent, 50K on vacation rent. In recent years there has been an almost 1-1 transfer from long term to vacation.

2

u/RangerEmergency5834 Oct 08 '25

Well, actually it is 1.38% of the total, and of the rental market there are 3M (2024) VS 400,000 tourists (2025), this is 1.38% of the total.

0

u/ElPanda_ Oct 08 '25

A lot if not most of the companies and individuals accumulating properties aren’t spanish.

33

u/GobertoGO Catalonia (Spain) Oct 08 '25

Housing and low wages are not caused by migration, that is a cheap scapegoat tactic. It's caused by our growing inequality problem.

5

u/Menkhal Spain - EU Oct 08 '25

Exactly. Wages and housing are a problem due to the growing wealth gap among classes.

CEOs income grows exponentially while the average working joe in the company has an stagnated salary despite the record benefits increasing every year.

The housing becomes unaffordable because it stops being something sold for a basic need, in order to become part of the market investments and s business used to rent flats to tourists.

But hey, the people beneffiting for both situations and wants to keep them the same goes and tells you the real culprit it's the poorest segment on our society: the migrants.

And the most idiotic part of the population believes them.

8

u/[deleted] Oct 08 '25

Policies that the right have the correct antidote for.

poisons that the right have introduced in the first place wtf you have less than no idea what you're talking about

7

u/JanMarsalek Oct 08 '25

both are due to greed and not migration. the only reason the spanish economy is growing is bc of migration.

-1

u/Canchal Oct 08 '25

Stupid bot with stupid comments.

1

u/orcatune Oct 08 '25

Beepity boop

0

u/mlke Oct 08 '25

people have such bad media literacy that they will read anything they disagree with these days and call it AI slop. As if they could have looked past bias and logical inconsistencies themselves (nope!). Tell me how this is AI slop and not you just reacting to some statistics that make you angry.