What are the political consequences of skill acquisition? In this paper we argue that skill updating – i.e. the continued expansion and improvement of an existing skill set – decreases individuals’ propensity to vote for right-wing populist parties and increases the propensity to vote for mainstream parties. We further argue that skill updating mediates the political consequences of economic globalization – especially from the so-called “China shock”. Leveraging European Social Survey data with 15 European countries from 2002-2016/2018, we find that individuals updating their skills on average vote less for populist right parties relative to mainstream left and mainstream right parties. We also find that at higher levels of exposure to Chinese imports, skill updating is strongly and negatively correlated with voting for right populist parties relative to right mainstream – but not left mainstream – parties. We provide a new link between individuals’ skill sets and voting, show how skills mediate the political consequences of economic globalization, and stress the importance of improvement of existing skills for political behavior.