SIDESTREAM receives Best Paper Award at IMISCOE

The paper “How Sidestreaming Works: A Conjoint Experiment on Minority Responses to Radical Right Rhetoric in Estonia” addresses voter reactions to parties using sidestreaming rhetoric: a rhetorical strategy through which populist radical-right parties appeal to ethnic minorities without moderating their core ideology. Using a survey experiment in Estonia, it tests how inclusive messages affect both ethnic-minority and majority voters. The findings indicate that sidestreaming improves these parties’ appeal among minority voters while having smaller effects on majority voters. Although existing supporters still favor traditional nativist rhetoric, more inclusive narratives can help parties reach new audiences without alienating their core base.