When Politics Enters the Waiting Room: Far-Right Electoral Victories Exacerbate Discrimination in Access to Healthcare

Far-right political shifts have been linked to increased racism, raising concerns about their impact on minority access to public services. This study investigates whether far-right electoral victories encourage discrimination by street-level bureaucrats, who are expected to act impartially. We conducted a nested research design in Italy, combining a field-experimental audit with a regression discontinuity design focused on municipalities near the electoral threshold for far-right mayors. Research assistants with native-Italian and West-African accents contacted municipal healthcare offices to request registration with a general medical practitioner. Compared to native-Italian callers, those with West-African accents faced significantly higher rates of scrutiny and dismissive responses. Leveraging close elections, we find that this disparity was exacerbated in municipalities where far-right candidates narrowly won. These findings demonstrate that far-right electoral success can undermine impartiality and equal access to essential services.