The demand-side politics of resentment thesis regards rising support for the radical right as essentially expressing a negative protest against the status quo, and hence an indicator of rising political disaffection with democratic politics. This perspective is commonly used in the academic literature on new parties, for example to explain support for Ross Perot's Reform Party in the United States, One Nation in Queensland, Canadian Reform, and New Zealand First. This argument is not necessarily antithetical to the new cleavage thesis, as these explanations can be combined where it can be suggested that political disaffection is concentrated among disadvantaged social sectors. Nevertheless these explanations remain logically distinct. Betz articulates one of the strongest versions of this argument, suggesting that the rise of populist politics in Europe has been fueled by resentment and alienation from the political institutions of representative government:

This claim is also commonly heard in popular commentary where the growth of widespread political cynicism, civic malaise, and social alienation, particularly disaffection with mainstream parties (parteienverdrossenheit), is believed to have provided a springboard for radical right antiestablishment appeals.