Election Campaign Research Articles

Perceived political incivility and trust in government: the moderating roles of election news exposure and favorability of election outcomes*

ABSTRACT While extensive research has shown that political incivility can lead to unfavorable democratic outcomes, our understanding of the dynamics in election campaigns is limited. The current study investigates the effects of perceived political incivility on trust in government by taking into account both informational and motivational factors during elections: the distinct channels through which individuals receive election news (institutional, social media, and messaging applications) and whether the election outcome is (un)favorable to the individual. Drawing from the literatures on online incivility and motivated reasoning, we argue that both election news exposure and favorability of election outcomes could moderate the effects of perceived incivility. We conducted a two-wave panel survey (pre- and post-election) during the 2022 Malaysian General Election (Wave-1 N = 1800; Wave-2 N = 901). We found that increased incivility perceptions over time and unfavorable election results diminished trust in government, and there was evidence that increased exposure to election news from institutional news sources increased trust in government from pre- to post-election. For those who found the election outcome unfavorable, increased social media exposure resulted in a greater loss of trust in the government in response to increased perceptions of incivility during the campaign. These results underscore the importance of both informational (news media) and motivational (favorability of election outcome) factors, as well as their combined effects on individuals’ responses to political incivility during elections.

Immigration in the 2024 US presidential election campaign: policy stalemate, disinformation, and a call for mass deportation

Immigration has been one of the most contentious and defining issues of the 2024 presidential election, rivaled only by economic policy and national security. The Republican candidate, former President Donald Trump, has largely succeeded in setting the terms of the debate – hammering away at his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, with hyperbolic claims that she supports “open borders” and false accusations that the US is experiencing a wave of violent crime committed by migrants. Trump’s immigration rhetoric relies increasingly on lies, misinformation, and racist stereotypes. But his claim that immigration is “out of control” – and his insistence that firm measures are needed to address it – have become central to the Republican platform, and one of Trump’s most frequently repeated campaign promises is that he will deport millions of undocumented immigrants soon after taking office. Why is immigration such a controversial issue in the US? How have the different administrations dealt with it? Is it an overused issue in this campaign?

How does the consent model in Australia’s Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) undermine our human right to privacy?

ABSTRACT Cambridge Analytica was a political consulting business that became known for its use of personal data obtained from social media platform Facebook, to drive election campaigns on behalf of its clients. Their most famous client was the winner of the 2016 US Presidential election. When it was realised that Cambridge Analytica had acquired Australian Facebook users’ data, the Australian privacy regulator started litigation against Facebook to enforce the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). This article examines how the Facebook litigation and subsequent law reform activities shed light on the central, yet fictitious role of the consent model. A historical and cultural analysis reveals how consent to surrender private information is a symptom of social conditions in which we take it for granted that individuals, rather than business, will bear the costs of poor privacy outcomes. Our collective ‘consent realism’ not only constrains the imagination of policy makers but interferes with a person’s autonomy in forming and developing opinions. However, a right to privacy can be more viably re-asserted, at least in response to the Cambridge Analytica incident, within the framework of Australia’s implied freedom of political communication. Consent realism can thus potentially be overcome in favour of human rights principles.

Reducing Racial Asymmetries in the Survey Overestimation of Voter Turnout

Abstract Research has consistently demonstrated that Black respondents are more likely than their White counterparts to overstate their plans or previous decisions to vote. We propose that by using a single question regarding turnout intention and candidate preference (rather than the typical approach of using two separate questions), survey researchers can reduce these racial asymmetries. The reason, we suggest, is that doing so encourages Black respondents to consider the turnout question through the lens of candidates and parties, rather than as a civic responsibility they have toward other Black Americans, which therefore mitigates the social desirability bias that leads to overestimation. We evaluate this argument using a survey experiment that randomly asks a control group of survey respondents to answer two voting questions—one about turnout and one about vote choice—and asks the other half of the sample, the treatment group, a single question that combines the two. Using original data from a nationally representative survey, we find that using the single turnout/preference question reduces the racial asymmetry in turnout overestimation substantially. We further observe that the decrease is concentrated among respondents with relatively high levels of campaign indifference and especially racial civic consciousness, a condition that is much more common among Black respondents than among White respondents. We believe these findings are particularly relevant to election scholars and campaign professionals, given their focus on understanding the thought processes of survey respondents and prospective voters, as well as improving the validity of self-reports in survey research.

Social media homophily among women and men political candidates

Abstract This paper assesses differences between women and men political candidates in their likelihood to interact with peers who share the same gender, political affiliation, electoral district, incumbency, age, and the governmental status of their party. Using Twitter (currently X) data from Finland’s 2019 election campaign, we find a tendency towards homophily—a tendency to interact predominantly with similar others—among all candidates across the various studied characteristics. However, some gender differences in the tendency towards homophily emerge. Notably, women are more inclined than men to retweet candidates from their own party but are less likely to retweet peers with the same incumbency status and the same gender. Our multivariate analyses further show that retweet tendencies based on age, shared electoral district and party governmental status exhibit no significant gender disparities. These nuanced variations in homophilous relations highlight the complex interplay between gender and other characteristics in candidates’ social media interactions during electoral campaigns.

Using social media to communicate competence, ordinariness, and authenticity in political leadership

Abstract Understanding how political leaders use social media during election campaigns is a growing area of research, with existing literature focussing on single-election examinations of platform usage (Smith 2021). This paper instead conducts a longitudinal examination of political leadership on Twitter/X at the 2015, 2017, and 2019 UK general elections, focussing on the different ways in which leaders portray their competence, ordinariness, and authenticity. In analysing 2,694 posts during the short campaign period by the various leaders of the Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats, and the Scottish National Party, enables the examination of both changing social media behaviours and individual constructions of leadership under the same party label.

Political Labeling on Social Media: a Netnographic Study of “SDM Rendah” in Indonesia’s 2024 Presidential Election on X (Twitter)

The 2024 presidential election campaign in Indonesia has produced various unique phenomena, including the emergence of the "Low Human Resources'' (SDM Rendah) label directed at the supporters of candidate pair 02 by the supporters of candidate pairs 01 and 03. The existence of this label has become a spotlight because it reflects the dynamics of politics and social interaction within the community. In conducting the netnographic research strategy in this study, the primary focus is on gaining a deep understanding of the underlying reasons for this labeling, as well as how it affects public perception and the overall political dynamics. The social media platform X was selected as the research subject due to its crucial role in facilitating communicative interaction, including the labeling process. It is expected that the results of this research can provide deeper insights into the phenomenon of labeling in the political realm on the X social media platform, as well as provide a better understanding for politicians and the public regarding the importance of using social media platforms wisely in the political context. This research also has significant academic implications in the field of communication science, particularly in the theory of Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC), which can contribute to a deeper understanding of the role of social media in contemporary politics. The practical implications cannot be overlooked either, especially in the efforts to raise awareness of the power and impact of social media platforms in the political context during the 2024 presidential campaign in Indonesia.

Exploring digital campaign competence: the role of knowledge in data-driven election campaigns

ABSTRACT Data-driven political advertising (DDPA) is a manifestation of data-driven campaigning and is increasingly used by European political parties. Political actors can collect vast amounts of personal data to show voters targeted ads. Therefore, DDPA has received much attention from scholars. However, we lack insights into what voters know about DDPA, and how this knowledge affects (dis-)engagement with personalized ads. We approach this problem by examining (a) which voter characteristics enhance understanding of DDPA tactics and implications, and (b) to what extent DDPA knowledge plays a role for engaging with or avoiding of political ads. In a two-wave panel survey study (N W1 = 1264, N W2 = 1011), conducted during the 2021 Dutch General Elections, we show that (a) male, younger, higher educated and politically interested respondents were most knowledgeable. Yet, (b) the predictors vary when examining different types of DDPA knowledge, and (c) DDPA knowledge neither affects ad engagement nor ad avoidance, but we find that political interest and self-efficacy are crucial for ad engagement and ad avoidance, respectively. These findings discuss the relevance of DDPA knowledge in the context of data-driven campaigns, and add to the debate on how to best empower voters in a changed political advertising landscape.

Clientelism and digitalisation of Roma parties' electoral campaigns: a case study

AbstractContrary to recent developments within party politics, Roma political parties in Romania fail to incorporate digital technology into their activities, although they face a continuously decreasing level of support from their voters. To explain this phenomenon, this article argues that elections governed by non‐programmatic strategies create not only different incentives towards digitalization, but also pose more challenges for certain ethnic parties, which also face internal shortcomings. It looks at the 2020 local elections in Romania and focuses on the two largest Roma political parties. The qualitative analysis, based on interviews with county Roma party leaders, confirms that the lack of digitalization is influenced by local clientelism, which affects the Roma electorate because of their socioeconomic situation. Besides, internal shortcomings further constrain such an option.

Learning from YouTube? The role of exposure to partisan YouTube channels and news literacy in political learning during the South Korean general election campaign

ABSTRACT This study examined whether exposure to partisan YouTube channels, a soft-format journalistic content for partisans, can promote learning effects and how news literacy moderates these effects. Using online panel survey data (N = 808), findings revealed that spending more time viewing partisan YouTube channels led to lower knowledge of hard news (i.e. factual information about the electoral system and campaign slogans) but higher knowledge of soft news (i.e. human-interest-based information). However, individuals with higher news literacy showed an increase in hard news knowledge but a decrease in soft news knowledge as their time spent viewing partisan YouTube channels increased.

Paradox of Criminal Provisions Formulation Regarding Reporting of Political Party Campaign Funds in the 2024 General Election

Political parties as a form of organization whose scope is the political field make it a primary position in modern democracy which is required to be in line with democratic norms and election principles. The characteristics of political parties as legal subjects (subjectum juris) of corporations/public legal entities that can also act in the private sphere that are attached to legal consequences for all actions or deeds, and legal relationships, both in the administrative, civil, and criminal spheres. One of the actions or legal acts of political parties in the Election is the legal obligation to report campaign funds honestly, accountably, and transparently in accordance with the principles of organizing elections as a legal act that has the potential to have administrative and criminal consequences. In several formulations of criminal provisions of the Election Law which are specifically formulated for political parties as legal subjects (subjectum juris) of corporations, although the construction of the articles does not explicitly mention political parties, but refers to the phrase Election Participants which consists of 5 Articles, namely Article 496, Article 525 Paragraph (2), Article 526 Paragraph (2), Article 527, and Article 528 Paragraph (1) of the a quo Law. One of the actions or legal acts of political parties that has the potential to be subject to criminal penalties is the provision of Article 496 of the a quo Law related to election participants who intentionally provide false information in the Election campaign fund report, which constructively-holistically reaps problems in the actions or legal actions of political parties as election participants as well as the problem of deadlocked norms in related articles in the a quo Law.

Religious references in political campaigning: a comparative analysis of Latin America and Western Europe on social media

The relationship between religion and politics is receiving increasing attention in political science, although the focus is often on voter attitudes. Despite secularization trends, scholars expect a resurgence of religion in Western European party politics, where Christianity as a native identity is opposed to non-native Islam by populist radical right parties. In this context, it is primarily hostility toward other religious groups that structures religious elements in political communication. In most Latin American societies, religiosity plays a much greater role for individuals, which is reflected in the discourses of political elites who use genuine religious references to appeal to religious voters (“sacralization of politics”). Using data from my own recent research on content analysis of parties’ and candidates’ Facebook profiles, this article compares how political actors in Latin America and Western Europe use religious references in electoral campaigns and how salient these discourses are. The results help to explain the different prominence of religious discourses in different democratic regions and religious markets. The article contributes to the ongoing debate on the role of religion in 21st century politics.

Comparing Gendered Exposure and Impact in Online Election Violence: Tunisian Political Candidates Targeted on Facebook

Abstract Election violence is increasingly taking place online. However, we still do not know much about how such attacks affect the representation of politically marginalized groups such as women. This article develops and applies strategies for analyzing (gendered) exposure to and impacts of online attacks against political candidates. It focuses on the 2019 parliamentary election campaign in Tunisia and combines manual analysis of Tunisian candidates’ public Facebook pages with candidate interviews. We find no gendered patterns in exposure to online election violence in the Facebook data and a low general exposure to attacks. The interview data nevertheless suggests gendered perceptions and impacts of attacks, as well as a perception among the candidates that online election violence is widespread and problematic. These discrepancies highlight that we need a combination of methods and materials to capture the multifaceted nature of online election violence, and in particular those that directly link candidate exposure to impact.

Current issues of legal regulation on political advertising in election campaigns in social media

It is indicated that today the role of the Internet with all the unlimited amount of digital content that is produced in its spaces every day is extremely difficult to overestimate. Nowadays, it is various social networks and other online platforms that have become not only a means of placing and distributing information, but also the main communication field, which over time has made a real revolution in the field of user interaction. The article is devoted to the issues of legal regulation on political advertising and election campaignd in social media and on other online platforms, aims to highlight the central problems, as well as to outline the spectrum of possible ways to solve such problems through the study of Ukrainian and international experience of working with the control of the information field, namely, in the part of campaigning activities of the relevant subjects in social media, on other online platforms during the election process. Special focus in the current study is made on the correlation of national and corporate regulation of issues related to the use of foreign online platforms services for posting information that is considered as political advertising. In addition, it outlines a range of problems that are currently outside the scope of legal regulation and are caused, on the one hand, by the rapid pace of digital technologies development, and on the other hand, by the nature and essence of such a phenomenon as election campaigns and political advertising means in general, namely in terms of a wide range of tools for influencing the audience. As a result, the need for cooperation between the state as a legislator and corporations as non-state entities that own and manage specific resources used for posting election campaign materials is emphasized. It was also concluded that there is a need to pay special attention to the improvement of the national legislative framework in terms of understanding political advertising as a social phenomenon and creating special requirements for the regulation of legal relations regarding such advertising placement in social media and other online platforms.

Freedom in Populist Radical Right Discourses: The Polish ‘Island of Freedom’ in the 2019 European Parliament Election

ABSTRACT In Europe, the populist radical right (PRR) has actively embarked on a discursive struggle over the notion of freedom – one of the underlying concepts of Western сulture. An investigation of the 2019 European election campaign of the Polish Law and Justice party (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość [PiS]) highlights how PRR parties in power discursively construct freedom in the context(s) of the European Union (EU). In PiS’s discourse, freedom serves as an antagonistic national-populist and nativist tool that juxtaposes Polish national identity against the imagined enemies of PiS-led Poland at home and abroad.

UK Labour Party Leaders' Attitudes to Conventional Threats to National Security, 2023-2024

Introduction. The article focuses on the securitisation of power threats in the public speeches of the UK Labour Party leaders (Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Defence Minister John Healey and Foreign Secretary David Lammy) during the 2023-2024 election campaign. An attempt has been made to highlight the commonalities and peculiarities in the approach of the current and previous British governments to countering the main threats to national security. Materials and methods. The paper combines qualitative and quantitative approaches: a critical content analysis of sources and discourse analysis in an electoral context (using data from sociological surveys) are conducted, while the frequency of word usage in the public speeches of the Minister of Foreign Affairs is analysed using the tools of quantitative analysis of big data (R programming language). The methodological basis of the work is the theory of securitisation proposed by the Copenhagen School of the theory of international relations.Research results. It is concluded that the main change in London's foreign policy after Labour's victory in the 2024 parliamentary elections will be the prioritisation of security cooperation with European states. Labour Party leaders do not question the need for ‘dual containment’ of Russia and China, but they give the ‘China threat’ secondary importance: there are noticeable differences within the party on this issue. On the other hand, Labour's position on the ‘special relationship’ with the United States is characterised by a steady continuity with the Conservative government's approach. The need to deepen cooperation in Euro-Atlantic security structures (primarily NATO) and continental formats (EI2, JEF) is stated.Discussion and conclusion. On the basis of qualitative examination of policy documents and statements of the Labour Party leaders, as well as quantitative analysis of big data, conclusions are drawn about the key elements of potential continuity and variability in the foreign policy of London before and after the parliamentary elections on July 4, 2024. The results of the work can be useful in forecasting changes in the foreign policy of Great Britain after the victory of Labour in the parliamentary elections of 2024. The theoretical importance of the work lies in the fact that the article proposes a new methodology for quantitative analysis of the foreign policy of the UK.

Polarization and hate speech based on fuzzy logic and transformers: the case of the 2023 Spanish general elections

ABSTRACT Affective polarization in the digital debate of the Spanish presidential election campaign (2023), following the sudden call of the Spanish president on July 23, was measured. Using transformers, topics were detected, and sentiment analysis techniques were applied in the political debate during the elections to measure the emotional valence of the debate. The topics that dominate most of the debate are Candidates (n1 = 17170) and Opposition (n3 = 15327). These topics also show the highest typical polarization deviances. Based on affective polarization, a polarization measure (JDJ) grounded in the fuzzy sets was applied. The topic activism has the highest polarization value, while the topic of voting has the lowest. This analysis highlights a dichotomy that defines the Spanish political reality: the positive image of conventional political participation in the face of the rejection of collective action processes.

Abortion and the Electoral Campaign in Poland AD 2023

Abortion and the Electoral Campaign in Poland AD 2023

Do political elite endorsements influence online mobilization? A study of Twitter behavior in Narendra Modi’s 2019 election campaigns

ABSTRACT Modern campaigns increasingly rely on social media to influence voters, with Twitter offering affordances that enable direct communication between politicians and the public. However, scholars remain divided over the effectiveness of engaging ordinary Twitter users for mobilizing support online. This article seeks to address this issue by examining whether endorsements from political elites influence the tweeting behavior of ordinary users. Using a quasi-experimental design, we analyze an original dataset of tweets made by users who were mentioned (N = 27,634; 36.62 million tweets) and not mentioned (N = 27,672; 16.30 million tweets) by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 16th March 2019, during his national election campaign. Our analysis reveals that, on average, users mentioned by Modi exhibited a greater increase in tweet activity compared to those not mentioned. However, this surge in activity proved to be only temporary, suggesting that mentions by political elites facilitate immediate mobilization but are not necessarily self-sustaining. Furthermore, no evidence was found of a differential effect based on users’ pre-existing engagement levels. Our findings offer important insights into political leaders’ strategic use of Twitter in campaigns and contribute to the theoretical understanding of Twitter's role in mobilization and interactivity by bringing in diverse perspectives from the Global South.

Public Perception of Hate Speech on Social Media (Facebook) during the 2023 General Elections in Nigeria

In the contemporary global landscape, the advent of information and communication technology has interconnected societies, fostering increased civic engagement. Notably, social media platforms, a manifestation of this technological innovation, play a vital role in political discourse, drawing active participation from politicians, political parties, and their supporters. However, the utilization of these platforms in the context of electoral campaigns, particularly in nations like Nigeria, has raised concerns due to the dissemination of political information carrying adverse repercussions. This study delves into the examination of the public's perceptions regarding hate speech on Facebook during Nigeria's 2023 general elections. Employing a survey research strategy and leveraging convenient sampling, data were collected from residents within the geographical scope of Kwali Area Council, Abuja, Nigeria. The research framework drew upon the public sphere theory to elucidate its core objectives. Findings underscored the prevalence of hate speech on Facebook during the 2023 elections, attributing it to factors such as financial inducements, conspiracies, lack of citizen journalist training, religious interests, and sectional, tribal, and political influences. Notably, Facebook emerged as a platform for disseminating speeches that fueled animosity toward politicians, tribes, religions, and sections, instigating widespread antipathy without substantial knowledge of the targeted individuals or candidates. The research also highlighted the use of Facebook for insults, harassment, and the propagation of divisive narratives, contributing to tribal and religious conflicts, heightened tensions, attacks, disparities, and internal discord. This study's implications suggest a potential undermining of Nigeria's democratic progress. As a remedy, the study advocates for the responsible and positive use of social media platforms by users, especially during critical events such as elections.