European Union voting and the Dutch ‘double no’: the 2005 and 2016 referendums

Abstract

What caused Dutch citizens to vote ‘no’ in the 2005 and 2016 referendums? How do these referendum outcomes compare to voting patterns in European Union (EU) member states more generally?How are national-level referendums related to European integration? In a comparative analysis, we explore such questions based on information and data on two Dutch referendums, exploring the driving forces of voter opposition in light of more general theories of EU-related voting. We find that perceived threats to identity and culture mattered in the ‘Dutch double no’, while economic cost-benefit calculations and the actual contents of the votes played a less dominant role.