The relationship between place-based attitudes and political discontent has received increasing attention in recent years. Although populist attitudes are often linked to feelings of exclusion and neglect, we know little about how shifts in territorial belonging shape these orientations over time. In this paper, we conceptualize populism as a response to identity realignment: when individuals become more locally oriented while feeling less attached to the nation, they may redefine “the people” in narrower, place-based terms, fostering anti-elite and anti-establishment sentiments. Drawing on five-wave panel data from Spain, we explore three related questions: first, how within-individual changes in local attachment influence populist attitudes; second, how these effects unfold vis-à-vis changes in national attachment; and third, whether these relationships differ between rural and urban contexts. This article bridges insights from recent work on local ties, populist radical right and localist voting, territorial resentment, and place-based identity formation, and seeks to shed light on the controversial political consequences of local attachment.