Abstract
Election campaigns in the age of social media are rapidly changing their character. Due to the declining party loyalty of voters, once stable constituencies have become increasingly volatile and the importance of campaigning has increased. Parties are now thought to be more likely than in the past to opt for negative campaigning. This paper examines the postings that parties or top candidates made on the social media sites Facebook and Twitter during the 2019 National Council election campaign. The results suggest that - at least on social media sites - the cost-benefit analysis of the parties might turn towards negative campaigning, as the average popularity of negative campaigning posts was higher than those that were not tagged with negative campaigning.
Highlights
Election campaigns in the age of social media are rapidly changing their character (Swanson and Mancini 1996; Gallagher 2003): as voters' party allegiance declines, oncestable constituencies have become increasingly volatile(Drummond 2006; Mair 1997; Mair, Müller, and Plasser 2004)
The results suggest that - at least on social media sites - the cost-benefit analysis of the parties might turn towards negative campaigning, as the average popularity of negative campaigning posts was higher than those that were not tagged with negative campaigning
This article attempts to fill the research gap by examining which formats Austria's political parties chose to use in the 2019 National Council election campaign on the social media sites Facebook and Twitter, and which party characteristics explain the use of negative campaigning in Austria
Summary
Election campaigns in the age of social media are rapidly changing their character (Swanson and Mancini 1996; Gallagher 2003): as voters' party allegiance declines, oncestable constituencies have become increasingly volatile(Drummond 2006; Mair 1997; Mair, Müller, and Plasser 2004). This paper examines the postings that parties or top candidates made on the social media sites Facebook and Twitter during the 2019 National Council election campaign.
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