Anti Revolutionary Party - Electorate

Electorate

The electorate of the ARP has seen three decisive shifts, especially in its relation with the CHU, the other Protestant party. Although dates are given here, the changes were gradual

• Between 1879 and 1917 the ARP appealed to "kleine luyden" (Dutch for the little people), the middle class, farmers, and workers, as a confessional party that favoured universal suffrage.
• Between 1917 and 1967 the ARP appealed to members of the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands.
• Between 1967 and 1977, in the time of secularization and depillarization the party was able to appeal to younger generations, as the more leftwing confessional party.