A Day Off During the 2019 Folketing Election Campaign: Political Parties’ Use of Facebook in the EP Election in Denmark

Abstract

The 2019 European Parliament (EP) election in Denmark ran parallel to a national election campaign. Therefore, parties had to integrate two elections into their campaign efforts. While this special constellation at least contributed to higher voter turnout in the EP election compared to previous EP elections in Denmark, our content analysis reveals that the Facebook campaign focused on the national level. The parties were not particularly active on their Facebook pages, and the parties more active on Facebook were not necessarily the parties that experienced the most user reactions. The strategies they chose for incorporating interaction and mobilisation appeals into their campaigns diverged significantly. Moreover, the parties showed a clear thematic profile that can be explained by the issue ownership theory.