SOCIAL DEMOCRACY WITHOUT THE PEOPLE? CASE STUDY OF THE DEMOCRATIC LEFT ALLIANCE (SLD)/NEW LEFT (NL).

This article addresses the issue of the departure of the popular class from Polish social democracy and the simultaneous takeover by the right-wing populist. Analyzing the electoral results of the SLD and the PiS after 2005, we can see this phenomenon both in the context of electoral geography and in-depth opinion polls. The article also analyzes the apparent dichotomy between contemporary center-left voters and the ruling party in Poland in the dimension of attitudes to socio-economic and cultural issues, which may indicate a permanent loss of trust for the Polish center-left among representatives of the peasant and working class. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]