Potential Voters Research Articles

Family Politics in Contemporary Fascist Propaganda: Multimodal Entanglements of National Socialist Ideals, Populist Rhetoric, and Image Bank Semiotics

This article delves into a recurring dilemma facing contemporary fascist movements: how to communicate ideological purity to its hardcore base and at the same time appeal to imagined new voters and recruits? By analyzing how the most prominent fascist movement in Sweden, the Nordic Resistance Movement (NRM), publicly communicates its ideas about family issues and the role of women, we shed light on the semiotic work done by the far right to merge common social conservative tropes with an extremist discourse. Using the tools of social semiotics and multimodal critical discourse studies, the article shows how the NRM uses a range of semiotic resources as it interweaves mainstream conservative discourses about the nature of women and men, recognizable to a broader public (not least to supporters of the Swedish right-wing populist party, the Sweden Democrats), with Nazi keywords appealing to ideological in-groups. The analysis also reveals how the NRM uses image bank semiotics, which connote values associated with commercial lifestyle media and genres, as they communicate their views on family issues. In its use of such imagery, the NRM simultaneously draws on the fascist myth of palingenesis. Using gender and family politics as an empirical focal point, the article illustrates that linguistic and semiotic methods provide powerful tools to scrutinize the efforts of contemporary fascist movements to present themselves as ideologically pure and at the same time speak to a broader audience of potential voters and recruits.

Media Influence on Voter Behavior

In the 21st century, the media play an extremely important role in the life of every citizen. They are a source of information about the world and a place where we learn. They are also the place where politics is present. It is where election campaigns are conducted, information about events from the world is published, and where politicians and voters communicate. This phenomenon is important and worth analyzing because of the impact it can have on potential voters, and thus on the quality of life of citizens. For this reason, the subject of this paper is to present agenda setting theory as a methodology for explaining the impact the media can have on voters. This way, the aim of the work is to demonstrate how the media can practically influence the political thoughts of viewers and shape their choices. In the first part of the paper, the general assumptions of the theory will be presented. Then practical examples from the world of politics will be described, based on whetherit will be possible to observe the application of the impact of agenda-setting theory on voters’ opinions. The final part of the analysis will answer the questions: by what methods does the media influence voters and what effect it can have in public life.

Exploring the Security Challenges of an E-Voting System (EVS): A Case Study in the Bolgatanga Senior High School

The integration of electronic voting systems (EVS) into electoral processes promises increased efficiency, speed, and transparency. However, this technology also introduces a variety of security challenges that must be addressed to ensure the integrity of the voting process. This study explores the security vulnerabilities of an EVS, focusing on its implementation at Bolgatanga Senior High School (BIGBOSS). Through a case study approach, this research examines the potential threats to the administration of EVS, including issues related to data privacy, system integrity, authentication protocols, and susceptibility to cyber-attacks. A mixed-methods strategy was employed, utilizing surveys, interviews, and system tests to assess both technical vulnerabilities and user experiences. Key findings revealed Potential Voter Manipulation where unauthorized access could allow individuals to cast votes fraudulently; Insider Threats where trusted users exploiting their access could manipulate election outcomes; Weak Authentication; Lack of Robust Verification; Potential Physical Attack where individuals could vandalize machines and Vulnerabilities in Encryption which may expose votes, compromising ballot secrecy. The study recommends the implementation a blockchain-based technology , such as cryptographic techniques, consensus mechanisms, use of biometric verification to ensure the identity of voters as well as the use of digital signatures to verify the authenticity of electronic ballots and ensure that they haven't been altered during transmission, implementation of real-time monitoring of the e-voting system to detect and respond to security threats promptly” and also provide ongoing cybersecurity education and training to election officials, staff, and voters to raise awareness and reduce the risk of human error. These findings contribute to the ongoing discourse on EVS security, providing insights into practical measures for improving the reliability and safety of electronic voting systems in educational institutions and beyond.

Mengurai Polarisasi Politik di Kalangan Milenial Peran Komunikasi dalam Pemilu

Abstract Political polarization among millennials has become an increasingly prominent challenge in recent years. This generation, which is a significant potential voter in the 2024 Election, is vulnerable to misleading political campaigns, hate speech and false information spread through social media and digital platforms. High levels of polarization can threaten social cohesion and hinder constructive dialogue in the democratic process. This research aims to explore the role of effective political communication and media literacy in unraveling political polarization among millennials in the 2024 elections. By using a mixed method, this research combines quantitative survey methods, qualitative studies with in-depth interviews and focus group discussions, as well as media content analysis to provide a comprehensive picture of this issue. It is hoped that the research results can provide insight into effective political communication strategies, the importance of cross-group dialogue, and the role of media literacy and political education in reducing polarization among millennials. It is hoped that these findings can contribute to efforts to create a healthier and more constructive political environment in the 2024 elections and the democratic process as a whole. Keywords: Political Polarization, Political Communication, Media Literacy, Millennials, 2024 Election

Figurative Narratives in Political Blogging: Linguocognitive Perspective

Introduction. Recent years have seen a significant shift towards the pervasive use of figurative narratives in mediated political communication. Narrative practices, previously analyzed exclusively within the framework of literary theory, have become a kind of «language games» of modern politicians in their communication with potential voters and opponents, debates and intricate negotiation processes. The article analyzes figurative narratives of the English- and German-speaking political blogs as a powerful linguistic-cognitive tool for mediated political communication. The purpose of the paper is deep semantic analysis of figurative narratives of political blogs, which, as the authors claim, is a promising direction of research due to the narrative nature of human reasoning. The paper argues that the skillful use of figurative narrative practices based on archetypical plots and cultural references makes it possible to manipulate the consciousness of the electorate to achieve political goals.Methodology and sources. Methodologically, the study is based on the cognitive-discursive approach to narrative analysis and the basic principles of the neural theory of language and metaphor.Results and discussion. Pointing to the manipulative effect of metaphorical framing in narrative, the authors attempt to present a holistic view of narrative as a tool for the formation of political views. The study is based on the premise that narrative employs the rich structure of human representations of events and actions, and the type of metaphor promoted in the narrative affects human understanding of events and the adoption of certain positions on an important public issue by readers of political blogs. The set of metaphors, politicians use, forms a special type of cultural narrative, which the authors interpret as an extended metaphorical narrative.Conclusion. Summarizing the effects of using metaphorically framed narratives in politics, the authors conclude that the narrative communication strategy in political blogging is a targeted impact on a communication partner by referring to various narrative plots; the modification or transformation of the potential and diversity of political narratives, as well as their effectiveness, speaks in favor of their use in domestic and foreign policy communication to contribute to a symmetrical communication space aimed at successful cooperation rather than confrontation.

Enhancing the design of voting advice applications with BERT language model.

The relevance and importance of voting advice applications (VAAs) are demonstrated by their popularity among potential voters. On average, around 30% of voters take into account the recommendations of these applications during elections. The comparison between potential voters' and parties' positions is made on the basis of VAA policy statements on which users are asked to express opinions. VAA designers devote substantial time and effort to analyzing domestic and international politics to formulate policy statements and select those to be included in the application. This procedure involves manually reading and evaluating a large volume of publicly available data, primarily party manifestos. A problematic part of the work is the limited time frame. This study proposes a system to assist VAA designers in formulating, revising, and selecting policy statements. Using pre-trained language models and machine learning methods to process politics-related textual data, the system produces a set of suggestions corresponding to relevant VAA statements. Experiments were conducted using party manifestos and YouTube comments from Japan, combined with VAA policy statements from six Japanese and two European VAAs. The technical approaches used in the system are based on the BERT language model, which is known for its capability to capture the context of words in the documents. Although the output of the system does not completely eliminate the need for manual human assessment, it provides valuable suggestions for updating VAA policy statements on an objective, i.e., bias-free, basis.

Public Relations Political Advertising Campaign and Voters’ Attitude

The purpose of this work was to assess public relations political advertising campaign in Nigeria’s general elections. Particular emphasis was on its effect on voter attitude in the 2023 general election in southeast region as it concerns voter registration, voter turnout and voters’ acceptance of election outcome. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used to answer the three research questions. Primary data were generated from a sample of 400 selected respondents from the states using multi-staged sampling techniques. Results from the use of logit model shows that public relations political advertising campaign have made significant effect in changing voter attitude in the region and that a unit increase in the campaign has the odd ration of 4.5 time as large for voter registration, 5.2 time as large for voter turnout and 2.0 times as large for voter’s acceptance of outcome. Hence, the unit increase will create about 4.5, 5.2, and 2.0 more likelihood for potential voters to register, turnout to vote and accept the outcome respectively. The study concluded that public relations political advertising campaign has the capacity to change voter attitude and recommended that every effort should be made to encourage issue based public relations political advertising campaign and for electoral umpires to manage the process well so as to preserve the changes recorded as a result.

PERAN MEDIA SOSIAL DALAM MEMBENTUK PERSEPSI PEMILIH PADA PEMILU 2024

Social media has become a major platform where political information is widely disseminated and interaction between users is increasing. This research explores how political content, including fake news and public opinion, can influence voter perceptions. This research uses a qualitative approach using descriptive methods. The data collection is in the form of primary data and secondary data. . The results show that social media has great potential to influence voters quickly and on a large scale, thereby significantly influencing election outcomes. Presidential elections are an important political process in implementing democracy in a country. In the increasingly digital era, social media has played a significant role in the political campaign process. This research aims to investigate the role and influence of social media in the upcoming presidential election campaign in 2024. This study uses a descriptive qualitative approach to collect data about the use of social media in the presidential election campaign. The research results show that social media has become an effective means for presidential candidates and campaign teams to convey their political messages to potential voters.

SIMULACRUM PEMANFAATAN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGANCE PADA KAMPANYE POLITIK PILPRES DAN WAPRES 2024 MELALUI VIDEO TIKTOK

Digital systems and networks (internet), which have increasingly developed recently, have triggered various technological innovations. One of the innovations that has received great attention from citizens of the world - indications are that there are various technological discoveries through applications on cellphones - is the presence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology. In formats in the media realm - whether films, videos, photos, music or text - AI technology has been presented and used with its sophistication. Although the use of AI actually becomes a simulacrum in text messages - borrowing the concept of simulacrum from Jean Baudrillard - in a number of cinema films and social media. Specifically on social media, AI technology is being used by a number of political parties and success teams or spin doctors from each pair of presidential and vicepresidential candidates in 2024 in delivering their political campaigns. The content of political campaign messages published on social media regarding the election of presidential and vicepresidential candidates (presidential and vice presidential candidates) - including Facebook, YouTube, effective in the context of delivering communication messages. The range of communication or political campaign messages that are appropriate and effective - via cell phones or mobile phones and laptops - is able to reach and shape personal perceptions through cognitive, affective and conative structures or behavior towards potential voters. Although, this research only examines political campaigns using the concept of simulacrum theory and political communication (campaigns) on short videos tens of seconds long that utilize AI technology and are distributed on social media regarding the election of presidential and vice presidential candidates, especially TikTok - considering this social media has penetration and is the highest usage choice – regarding the election of presidential and vice presidential candidates for the period 2024 – 2029.

Персуазивная роль этнонимов в испанском электоральном дискурсе

The article examines the persuasive impact of ethnonyms and ethnic categories on the voters in Spanish electoral discourse. In the modern world, the mechanisms of political communication are generating a growing interest. It is explained by the influence of political processes on all spheres of society, the fate of peoples and entire states, and the interests of every citizen. Therefore, political problems remain relevant at all times. The important role of electoral discourse, which has a pronounced persuasive effect on the voters, should be highlighted. When struggling for power, leaders and representatives of Spanish political parties, naturally, strive to establish trust, exert a certain emotional impact on potential voters and induce them to make the “correct” electoral decision, i.e. to vote for their party. It should be noted that persuasiveness has not only an argumentative, but also a manipulative component, forcing an addressee to act in the interests of the sender of the message. One of the persuasive speech mechanisms of Spanish electoral discourse is the use of ethnonyms in the election programmes of political parties. Ethnonyms contain valuable historical, ethnographic, cultural and linguistic information and, accordingly, cover the religious, cultural and historical spheres, as well as play an important role in intercultural communication. Ethnic identity includes the desire of peoples to preserve their identity, the uniqueness of their culture, language and worldview. Ethnonyms allow native speakers to identify their own traits and stereotypes. The essence of cultural, spiritual and political life is revealed through language. Thus, the study of ethnonyms and ethnic categories, as well as their functions in political discourse, is an urgent task of modern linguistics.

Riding the yellow wave: the online populist communication of Rassemblement National (RN) leaders in response to the Gilets Jaunes protests and the 2019 European elections

ABSTRACT Radical-right populist parties will often try to exploit and ride a wave of popular discontent for their own electoral gain. This paper studies the online populist communication of the leaders of the Rassemblement National (RN) in France in the context of the Gilets Jaunes (GJ) protests and the 2019 European election. It analyses the Twitter activity of these leaders to determine whether they temporarily softened their nativist and exclusionary stances to align their communications with the anti-elitist discourse of the protest movement. We explored this question by employing a quantitative text analysis using R Studio tools of their tweets over a 12-month period in combination with a more qualitative analysis of their output on this social media platform. We carried out tests on bigram frequency, network structure, as well as qualitative analysis of posts on the GJ protests and then compared this data with existing works on the GJ, to identify whether and how the RN adapted its social media discourse at strategic times in the election cycle to better suit the Gilets Jaunes’ demands and themes. The results provide support for the expectation of a strategic modification and moderation of exclusionary populist discourse online with both politicians returning to nativist themes after the European election campaign was over and the GJ mobilisation lost momentum. We therefore suggest that the change in output is part of a strategic moderation or ‘de-demonisation’ in order to gain a wider pool of potential voters and in particular those sympathetic to the protest movement.

How Attitudes on Gender Identity, Sexuality, and Core Populist Radical Right Values Combine in Diverging Ideological Constellations Among Populist Radical Right-Inclined Voters

This article addresses three caveats in populist radical right (PRR) voter studies focusing on gender and sexuality: omission of potential voters, representing gender and sexuality as one undifferentiated category, and issue-specific rather than comparative analysis. We use a theory-grounded latent class analysis, based on the Dutch Parliamentary Election Study (2021), to identify voter profiles in terms of how nativism, populism, and gender identity and sexuality attitudes combine differently among citizens who are inclined to vote populist radical right. Empirically, we find distinct profiles in terms of populism, nativism and gender identity and sexuality attitudes: a small minority of gender-and-sexuality-conservatives and larger classes of more modern and moderate potential populist radical right voters; but all clearly nativist. Abstracting from the specific case of the Netherlands, we provide typological descriptions of populist radical right voters that are likely also relevant in other countries.

Oh, the Places They’ll Go: A Geographic Analysis of Gubernatorial Campaigns

Geography has long played a significant role in American electoral politics. Candidates engage in “retail politics” by visiting fairs, festivals, schools, churches, and businesses, to meet and greet potential voters. However, systematically understanding where candidates are actually going has plagued prior work due to small sample sizes and lack of data availability. Presidential elections have been used with success in previous scholarship, but there are few viable candidates to compare within a single cycle. Utilizing competitive gubernatorial elections, this work attempts to address these deficiencies by utilizing social media posts to track multiple candidates in real-time across the 2018 campaign cycle at the state level. The paper tests competing theories of candidate engagement regarding travel decisions: do candidates (1) focus their attention on their partisan base or (2) try to attract independent or “swing” voters? Following an original and intensive data collection effort, we identified location-specific information for over 4700 campaign stops made by major-party candidates across seventeen states. Our results lend support to candidates spending time with their respective bases of partisan support, with Republicans going to rural areas with non-college educated individuals while Democrats travel to urban counties with a more diverse electorate.

Potential of Digital Technologies in Election Campaigns

Currently, the active introduction of digital technologies into the field of political communication has led to a transformation of electoral discourse structure. Big data analysis techniques are widely used at the preparation stage to identify the target electorate; at the communication stage, machine learning technology helps to pinpoint fakes and monitor the media, and neural networks create campaign content. Digital technologies enable actors in the political process to communicate with the electorate through channels independent of mainstream traditional media, densify the information environment and contribute to the creation of a unique digital scenography that produces a powerful emotional impact on the electorate. The article examines the most active period of the election campaign, when the candidate is in direct contact with the electorate, and digital technologies enhance the degree of his/her influence on potential voters. It is shown that the choice of digital technologies depends, to a large extent, on the political culture of the country. The cases of election campaigns in the USA, France, India and South Korea are considered.

The Role of Minority Political Groups in the Dissemination of Disinformation. The Case of Spain

ABSTRACT This study seeks to understand better the role played by minority political groups in Spain in promoting disinformation on Twitter. The study applies statistical analysis and topic modelling to posts (tweets and retweets) published in Spanish on Twitter (n = 20,481 tweets) and to content identified as disinformation (n = 2,730) by two independent fact-checking projects in Spain from August 2019 to March 2020. The data reveal that the political communication strategy focuses primarily on the confrontation between the majority of political groups at the national level and on legitimizing the political projects of these groups to their potential voters through specific issues. The data also reveal a co-occurrence between messages published by political actors and content identified as disinformation by fact-checkers, which depends on the tweets’ political profile, virality, and sentimental load. For this reason, the digital presence of these actors creates favourable conditions for the viral dissemination of disinformation, mainly when their content focuses on mobilizing potential voters through emotional messages. It could be helpful for fact-checkers to identify and understand the role of these actors in promoting this content.

Komunikasi Politik di Negeri Sarawak: Analisis Wacana Kritis Terhadap Manifesto Parti Politik dalam Pilihan Raya Negeri Sarawak 2021

An election manifesto reflects the vision of a political party in its effort to gain support from potential voters to win seats. Most political parties will produce manifestoes that promise development projects to drive the country’s economy, provide employment opportunities as well as combat abuse of power. The 2021 Sarawak State Election (SSE21) was an election that attracted the attention of state and federal observers. For the first time, the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) was contesting after the disbandment of Sarawak Barisan Nasional (BN) in 2018. In addition, it was also the first election for the new Sarawak Chief Minister, Abang Johari Openg. SSE21 was the first battleground for several Sarawak nationalist parties such as Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) and Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK). Using critical discourse analysis, this article aims to analyse the content of GPS, PSB and PBK’s manifestoes. The focus of this study is the issue of state nationalism, state development and inter-ethnic relations presented in the manifesto.

Voting and Not Voting in Early 18th‐Century English Parliamentary Elections

AbstractThis article uses data from 28 poll books to explore voter behaviour over time in early 18th‐century English parliamentary elections (from 1710 to 1735). Voters in this period exhibited a high degree of partisan loyalty from one election to the next. But voters were also quite likely to drop out of the electorate between elections. As a case study of Sussex elections in 1734 shows, even among voters who made a definite promise to vote for a given candidate or set of candidates, there was a significant proportion who did not vote. While some non‐voting can be explained as an attempt to avoid disobliging powerful patrons, this article argues that voters needed to be motivated to appear at the polls. The electoral culture of the early 18th century – treats, balls, public appearances by the candidates, etc. – should be understood as attempts to mobilise rather than to persuade potential voters.

LITERARY COMPONENT IN POLITICAL DISCOURSE

Literature and politics have been closely connected from time immemorial. The paper is considering the genres of pamphlet, memoir and essay under the angle of their role in political discourse. It argues that texts of these genres are aimed at performing the principal function of political discourse - that of struggle for power and its retention but are oriented to different periods of political process and serve to solve different problems. The paper is considering literary works written in different countries and periods. It is shown that political authors use the possibilities of fiction to influence readers in order to instill in them certain ideas, thus forming a perspective on the perception of events that were the result of political decisions, and push people to take politically significant actions. The pamphlet is used to influence the current political process by shaping public opinion in favor of a particular actor. Memoirs are a kind of political storytelling and are intended to present the author's ideologically charged interpretation of the events that took place in the past. In its turn the established narrative of the past becomes part of the policymaking terrain, justifying existing policies and creating criteria for policy success. The political essay serves to present a politician's program during an election campaign. Political essays are critical for driving the agenda and shaping voter perceptions through literary presentation of a candidate’ programme. Emotionally coloured political essays can influence potential voters, as they suggest a particular climate of opinion, and can lead to taking decisions in the candidate’s favour.

COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES TO PROMOTE THE IMAGE OF A RUSSIAN POLITICIAN IN TIMES OF CRISIS

The study is devoted to identifying the eff ective communication practices in the formation of media content aimed at promoting a positive image of a politician during times of crisis. The problem fi eld of the study is related to the solution of such issues as the study of the structure and functions of the image of a political leader; the identifi cation of eff ective PR-tools for forming the image; the development of a methodology and the conduct of sociological research devoted to the technologies of forming the image of a political leader and the interpretation of study results. These problems are comprehensively solved in the study in the framework of the theory of media communication and PR-technologies. The novelty of the study lies in the systematization of eff ective media technologies for the formation of a political image and in identifying patterns of their use, which will, to a certain extent, infl uence and manage the level of social tension of the population in such new conditions for society as the global lockdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic and, as a consequence, the crisis in many areas of society life.The paper presents the results of a sociological study, the object of which was to identify the infl uence of the communicative behavior of politicians in the Stavropol Territory in the online environment on the formation of their image. As a method of collecting information, a mass survey of the population of the Stavropol Territory in the form of an online questionnaire was chosen .As a result of the study, it was concluded that during the period of critical situations the importance of a competent selection of those media technologies that are aimed at forming trust-based and long-term relations between political subjects and potential voters increases providing the purposeful design and promotion of a politician’s positive image. The study made it possible to identify the most eff ective tools for shaping the image of a politician during the COVID-19 pandemic and post-pandemic period were identifi ed: speeches or information on television about the activities of politicians, posts on social networks and a direct line by a politician on television or on social networks.

Take the Streets or Take the Parliament? Political Participation Choices of Radical Left Individuals

Voters across Europe have become increasingly polarised on both ends of the political spectrum in the last decade. While radical right parties were able to mobilise voters on their salient topics, radical left parties were only sporadically successful. In this article, we analyse why radical left parties fail to benefit from increasing polarisation by examining their potential voter base. Radical left individuals should have a lower incentive to participate in elections to change the status quo because of their suspicion towards authorities in general and the government more specifically. Instead, they should engage in status quo -busting grassroots activities to enforce revolutionary, rather than evolutionary, change. Our hypotheses are put to an empirical test by relying on data from the European Social Survey. We include respondents from 17 Western European countries from five rounds of the European Social Survey. The results have important implications for our understanding of the demand side of the political extremism wave.