or liberal policies, particularly when communism is associ­ated with historical trauma or moral disapproval. By con­trast, instrumental anti-communism – the pragmatic rejec­tion of communist ideas as politically harmful or threaten­ing – is more ideologically coherent and unambiguously aligned with the far right. It reflects a calculated stance against perceived leftist policy agendas and is therefore more tightly bound to conservative, securitarian and au­thoritarian worldviews. Why anti-communism matters: electoral consequences One key contribution of this research is that it shows that both forms of anti-communism predict voting behaviour, albeit in different ways. Affective anti-communism increases the likelihood of vot­ing not only for far-right parties such as Rassemblement National(France) and Lega(Italy), as well as far-right presidential candidates such as pinochetista José Antonio Kast(Chile) and Opus Dei linked ultra-conservative busi­nessman López Aliaga(Peru), but also for mainstream right or(economic) liberal candidates , such as neoliberal economist Hernando de Soto(Peru) and Sebastián Sichel of Chile Vamos(Chile). Instrumental anti-communism primarily predicts far­right voting, however. Specifically, it is a significant predictor of support for Rassemblement National in France, Lega in Italy, José Antonio Kast and the Partido Republicano in Chile, and Rafael López Aliaga and Ren­ovación Popular in Peru. It plays a less important role in predicting centre-right or liberal preferences, which tend to be influenced more by affective anti-communism. The key insight is that anti-communism is not just for extremists . While instrumental anti-communism func­tions as a selective filter for far-right support, affective anti-communism expands the emotional resonance of far-right rhetoric to broader conservative electorates. This dual mechanism – emotive resonance and pragmat­ic threat – explains why far-right actors persist in invok­ing communism, even though communists wield no real political power. Why this matters for Europe and Latin America The enduring appeal of anti-communism, especially in re­gions in which there is no communist party or it has been domesticated(such as Italy and France) should alert pro­gressive and centrist actors to a critical blind spot. Anticommunism(affective) France Chile Figure 3 Left/ Right Left/ Right –4 –2 0 2 4 –4 –2 0 2 4 Rassemblement National Les Républicans Ensemble Kast Sichel Italy Peru Left/ Right Left/ Right –4 –2 0 2 4 Lega Fratelli Forza –4 –2 López Aliaga 0 K. Fujimori 2 4 de Soto The scarecrow of communism 3