Personality and European Union attitudes: Relationships across EU attitude dimensions

We still do not fully understand why attitudes towards the European Union (EU) differ among citizens. In this study, we turn to the Big Five personality traits Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism as antecedents of EU attitudes. In a national survey, we focus on attitudes towards widening and deepening of the EU, trust in EU institutions, identification with the EU, and negative affect experienced towards the EU. We theorize that the Big Five traits are heterogeneously associated with the different EU attitudes. The Big Five traits are indeed associated with some but not all EU attitudes. Accordingly, personality is expected to shape how citizens’ respond to changes in the institutional set-up of the EU.