Abstract

This paper examines the urban-rural divide in right-wing populist support using unique municipality-level data from Germany for the period 2001-2019. Our findings indicate that political polarization in space is driven by the spatial sorting of high-skilled individuals, foreigners, and differences in age and income levels. The nature of the urban-rural divide differs significantly between East and West Germany and evolves with the emergence of the \emph{Alternative für Deutschland} (AfD).