Kim Hjelmgaard

USA TODAY

BERLIN — Austria and Italy on Sunday become the latest countries to test the strength of a global popular revolt that led to Donald Trump's presidential win and the historic British vote to leave the European Union.

Growing anxieties over immigration, security and the economy have created vast support for anti-establishment parties and nationalist movements in Europe, the United States, the Philippines and beyond.

On Thursday, French President François Hollande, whose popularity has plummeted, announced he won't seek re-election next year, saying he wants to give his Socialist party a chance “against conservatism and, worse still, extremism.”

Austria will be the first EU nation to hold a presidential election and face this growing populist sentiment since Trump's surprise victory last month in the United States. Austria's Sunday vote is a repeat match between left-leaning moderate Alexander Van der Bellen, 72, and Norbert Hofer, 45, of the right-wing Freedom Party.

While the president's role in Austria is largely ceremonial, a win by Hofer — whose Euro-skeptic and anti-immigration party was founded by a former Nazi general — would make him Europe's first far-right head of state since World War II.

In Italy, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi had offered to resign if he loses Sunday's referendum on a constitutional reform package aimed at simplifying how laws are passed. Renzi, 41, who has been prime minister less than three years, proposed the constitutional changes as a signature effort to revamp one of Europe's worst economies.

Austria's presidential vote will likely be close. Hofer narrowly lost to Van der Bellen in May's vote, but the outcome was canceled after an Austrian court ruled there were ballot irregularities.

Donald Trump's populist wave sweeps through Europe

Any "Trump effect" will be negligible because Austrians had already decided how to vote before the U.S. election, said Anton Pelinka, an Austrian-born political scientist who teaches at the Central European University in Budapest.

But a recent Gallup survey in Austria showed that 53% of respondents thought Trump's win would benefit Hofer, while only 9% thought the same for Van der Bellen.

Hofer, like Trump, has pledged to back law-and-order measures, to reduce illegal immigration and the burden of asylum seekers, and to support tougher counterterrorism laws.

Although Hofer does not explicitly favor having Austria leave the 28-nation EU, Pelinka said a Hofer victory could amount to a "falling domino" and jeopardize Austria's current pro-EU position.

And next year, if France's far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen wins there, Hofer could change his mind about being part of the EU. Le Pen blames the EU for the region's migrant crisis and other problems. Her supporters have been emboldened by Trump's victory.

Italy's yes-or-no vote on the referendum is also viewed as a vote on Renzi, the country's youngest premier. Renzi wants regional governments in Italy to have less power and wants to overhaul the parliamentary system, including cutting the number of senators to 100 from 315.

If the "no" camp prevails, Renzi has promised to resign, although it's unclear if Italy's president would allow him to step down immediately.

Renzi "handed his critics a golden opportunity to boot him out. ... The referendum is now being framed as a national confidence vote on his government," wrote Stefan Koopman and Maartje Wijffelaars, economists at Dutch financial services firm Rabobank, in a research note to investors this week.

They noted that polls switched from "yes" to "no" as soon Renzi "made the plebiscite personal," a switch that belies the nature of some of the dissent.

For example, a "no" vote is strongly supported by the Five Star Movement, a populist group led by Beppe Grillo, a former comedian who has expressed admiration for Trump and wants Italy to hold a separate referendum on its EU membership. Grillo opposes the proposed constitutional changes, saying they don't go far enough.

Also opposed are establishment figures, such as former prime minister Mario Monte and some members of Renzi's center-left government.

"This referendum is being dubbed the 'third popular upheaval' after Brexit and Trump," said James Newell, a specialist in Italian politics at the University of Salford in the United Kingdom. "The divisions cut across many political and social divisions. It's hard to see who is rebelling against whom."