Conflicting messages of electoral protest: The role of systemic and elite discontent in the Italian 2016 constitutional referendum

The vote NO (a defeat for the proponents) of 2016 Italian referendum has been broadly attributed to a wave protest politics sweeping Western democracies. Given that government Matteo Renzi proposed and supported referendum, resulting against interests raises crucial theoretical question: what extent does reflect characteristics vote? To disentangle meaning impact protest, we distinguish two dimensions: ‘system discontent’ ‘elite discontent’, referring both general focalized images: sentiments towards representational aspects political institutions as compared focused performances. circumstances surrounding provide test whether these forms can be at odds with one another. We expect find elite discontented voters tend reject this referendum. Vice versa, system discontent increased support it would reform which had negative sentiments. Findings suggest analyses psychology behaviour identify conceptual foundations ask work in parallel or odds. Protest attitudes their effects should thought multidimensional.