Less second-order, more Europeanised? The 2024 European Parliament election in Spain

This article analyses Spain’s 2024 European Parliament election through the second-order elections (SOE) frame, examining party strategies and voter behaviour. Despite some classic predictions persisting – lower turnout and national-cycle effects – a core SOE assumption is eroded: namely, that voters attend only to national issues. Individual-level evidence shows that left-leaning voters (PSOE, Sumar) were more likely to cite EU-level concerns in their vote choices. On the radical right, motivations diverged: SALF voters’ support reflected national-level protest, whereas Vox’s voters focused on EU issues from a critical stance. Overall, outcomes may look second-order, but mechanisms differ across party families and strategies, suggesting the need to account for interactions between national and supranational logic.