The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics (211 page)

(1) A tax levied at a flat rate per head on each inhabitant of a given district (‘poll’ meaning ‘the human head’, hence ‘person on a list’). Two celebrated poll taxes have been levied in England: one in 1381 (actually the third of a series that started in 1377), and one in 1990. The tax of 1381 was described at the time as ‘hitherto unheard-of’. It was difficult and intrusive to collect, and was widely evaded in places the collectors found difficult to reach, such as Cornwall. It led to serious rioting, and the Savoy Palace (near present-day Trafalgar Square) was burnt down. It was abandoned because of popular resistance. The tax of 1990 (1989 in Scotland) was difficult and intrusive to collect, and was widely evaded in places the collectors found difficult to reach, such as inner London. It led to serious rioting, and buildings at Trafalgar Square were set alight. It was abandoned because of popular resistance. Nevertheless, it may have had an unexpected benefit for the Conservatives who introduced it. By giving less affluent voters an incentive to disappear from the electoral register, it may have enabled the Conservatives to win more seats in the 1992 General Election, and therefore win that election by a wider margin, than they would otherwise have done.
(2) A tax levied as a precondition of registering as an elector (‘poll’ meaning ‘the counting of votes at an election’). They were used in Southern states of the United States as one of a number of ways of preventing black citizens from voting ( see
civil rights
) and were made unconstitutional in federal elections by the Twenty-fourth Amendment to the Constitution (1964).

(1) A movement in the United States that gave expression to the grievances and disillusionment of (largely Western) farmers, who felt themselves oppressed by debt and let down by dishonoured promises of cheap land and cheap railroad rates. The movement began in the 1870s, peaked with the Populist Party's running of a candidate for President and electing four Senators in 1892, took a leading role in the
Democratic Party
in 1896, and gradually merged into the more broadly based
Progressive movement
.
(2) A democratic and collectivist movement in late nineteenth-century Russia. ‘Populist’ is a direct translation of Russian
narodnik
, first recorded in the
Oxford English Dictionary
in an 1895 article by one of the leading populists, P. Milyoukov .
(3) More generally, support for the preferences of ordinary people. The meaning has always been somewhat derogatory (‘pander to Populism’, 1893, is the earliest reference in
OED
). In so far as a specific set of populist beliefs can be identified, they involve defence of the (supposed) traditions of the little man against change seen as imposed by powerful outsiders, which might variously be governments, businesses, or trade unions. These beliefs are disproportionately prevalent among the
petite bourgeoisie
. Although the Russian populists were intellectuals going among the peasantry, most populism is anti-intellectual in tone. Movements which have been generally regarded as populist include Peronism,
Poujadism
, and the US Presidential campaign of Ross Perot in 1992. Politicians of any party may appeal to populist sentiment when it suits them, and denounce such appeals when that suits them.