In varietate concordia?! Political parties’ digital political marketing in the 2019 European Parliament election campaign

2021 ◽  
pp. 146511652110407
Author(s):  
Simon Kruschinski ◽  
Márton Bene

This article provides the first comprehensive analysis of how parties across 28 countries use digital political marketing on Facebook by drawing on the example of the 2019 European Parliament election. We introduce a theoretical model of political Facebook marketing and compare the paid media activity (sponsored posts, ads) of 186 parties to their owned media (posts) and earned media (user reactions, comments, shares). Our results concerning cross-country patterns indicate that differences in European parties’ paid media activity exist and only a few parties leverage sophisticated targeting strategies. Regarding temporal dynamics, we find that paid media is used to supplement owned media during similar campaign phases. In terms of engagement-triggering effects, we show that sponsoring posts is a suitable tool to increase earned media. Overall, paid media activity on Facebook is largely embedded into parties’ overall marketing strategy and national countries’ regulatory settings. Our results have implications for the understanding of public opinion, voting behaviour and the regulations of elections in modern European democracies.

Politics ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 026339572110083
Author(s):  
Michaela Maier ◽  
Carlos Jalali ◽  
Jürgen Maier ◽  
Alessandro Nai ◽  
Sebastian Stier

European elections have been described as second-order phenomena for voters, the media, but also parties. Yet, since 2009, there exists evidence that not only voters, but also political parties assign increasing significance to European elections. While initially ‘issue entrepreneurs’ were held responsible for this development, the latest campaigns have raised the question of whether mainstream parties are finally also campaigning on European issues. In this article, we examine European Union (EU) salience in the 2019 European Parliament (EP) campaigns of government and opposition parties and the predictors of their strategic behaviours. We test the relevance of factors derived from the selective emphasis and the co-orientation approach within an integrated model of strategic campaign communication based on expert evaluations of 191 parties in 28 EU member states. Results show that the traditional expectation that government parties silence EU issues does not hold anymore; instead, the average EU salience of government and opposition parties is similar on the national level. The strongest predictors for a party’s decision to campaign on EU issues are the co-orientation towards the campaign agendas of competing parties, and party’s EU position.


This book tells the story of the unexpected 2017 British general election and its equally unexpected outcome: the Conservatives’ loss of their parliamentary majority and Theresa May’s return at the head of a minority government. As with previous volumes in the Britain at the polls series, it provides readers with a series of interpretations of the election and expert accounts of the major political parties, including their responses to the 2016 Brexit referendum. Again in keeping with previous volumes, the book does not seek to provide a blow-by-blow account of the 2017 election campaign, nor does it seek to provide a detailed survey-based account of voting behaviour. Instead, it offers readers a broad analysis of recent political, economic and social developments and assesses their impact on the election outcome. It also addresses questions about the state of the political parties and the party system in the wake of the election, and reflects on the future of British electoral and party politics.


2018 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 87-100
Author(s):  
Wiesława Jednaka

New-created small parties in Poland and participation in the elections 2010–2011. Party thresholdsTh is article analyzes the participation of small parties in the municipal 2010, presidential 2010 and parliamentary 2011 elections. The genesis and programs and ideology of the party have been characterized. The concept of M. Pedersen was used, which describes the party’s life cycles. Four party thresholds are included: 1 the declaration threshold — the party declares participation in the elections, 2 the authorization threshold — the party meets the formal and legal requirements contained in the Act on political parties from 1997, 3 the representation threshold — the party wins elections, i.e. receives mandates for representative structures, 4 relevance threshold — G. Sartori’s concept is used. On the basis of a comprehensive analysis of party thresholds, small parties have a problem to exceed the threshold of representation. If they do not overcome it, then the fourth threshold, the threshold of relevance, does not apply. Three reasons can be pointed out: the party’s program, which is uninteresting to voters, the lack of field structures and the lack of electoral facilities, the lack of financial resources for the election campaign.


2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 573-589
Author(s):  
Ethan J Grumstrup ◽  
Todd Sorensen ◽  
Jan Misiuna ◽  
Marta Pachoka

Tempers flared in Europe in response to the 2015 European Refugee Crisis, prompting some countries to totally close their borders to asylum seekers. This was seen to have fueled anti-immigrant sentiment, which grew in Europe along with the support for far-right political parties that had previously languished. This sparked a flurry of research into the relationship between immigration and far-right voting, which has found mixed and nuanced evidence of immigration increasing far-right support in some cases, while decreasing support in others. To provide more evidence to this unsettled debate in the empirical literature, we use data from over 400 European parties to systematically select cases of individual countries. We augment this with a cross-country quantitative study. Our analysis finds little evidence that immigrant populations are related to changes in voting for the right. Our finding gives evidence that factors other than immigration are the true cause of rises in right-wing voting.


2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Amanda Richardson

<p><b>This thesis investigates responses in voting behaviour and media perceptions to the presence of media scandals about politicians and associated political parties during the 2017 New Zealand general election. A repeated measures design was used wherein 351 participants were recruited before the start of the election campaign, primarily from an Introductory Psychology course at Victoria University of Wellington. Follow-up surveys were conducted at three time points throughout the two month campaign. Participants were randomly allocated into one of two conditions for each follow-up survey. Half the participants were given a real news article to read about a media scandal, the other half read an article about a policy platform by the same political party. At the end of the election campaign, participants were asked about their voting behaviours. A second study was conducted after Labour Party leader, Jacinda Ardern, was announced Prime Minister with participants recruited via social media sites ‘Twitter’ and ‘Facebook’. In this study, 153 participants recalled information about scandals that were present in the media during the election campaign.</b></p> <p>Results showed that political scandals in news media do have an influence on voter perceptions, but not in an easily predictable way. Prior perceptions of political parties were the best predictors of who participants intended to vote for. Participants responded most strongly to public policy articles rather than scandal information, particularly those more knowledgeable of New Zealand’s political system, and therefore likely more engaged with politics in general. Further, there was evidence that information presented in the media influenced how participants viewed political parties that were not involved in the scandal, which is an important under a proportional voting system like MMP which requires understanding of the relationships between parties.</p> <p>Evidence was also found for a backlash effect towards the media wherein participants who were exposed to scandal information would displayed a decrease in trust towards the general media, consistent with the idea that one reason why voters may not respond negatively to scandal information reflects the decision that the source of the information is not credible. Future research should consider more targeted analysis on the different sources of news media, especially new media like blogs, social media, and entertainment news.</p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 65 (5) ◽  
pp. 28-38
Author(s):  
B. Guseletov

Received 30.10.2020. The article examines the processes of formation and institutionalization of pan-European parties (Europarties) as a new institution in the party-political system of the European Union. This institution emerged relatively recently in the mid&#8209;1970s, on the eve of the first European elections in 1979. The main stages of institutionalization of European parties and their factions in the European Parliament are presented. The article shows the key differences between this type of a party and traditional political parties as well as the way relations between the European parties and national parties from the EU member states are developing. It analyzes the current state of these parties and the impact of the most important challenges that the European Union has faced in the last decade: the global financial and economic crisis, the migration crisis in Europe, Brexit, and the coronavirus pandemic. The article considers the legal basis for ensuring the functioning of these parties, which is contained in the Lisbon Treaty, and a number of other fundamental acts of the European Union regulating the activities of its political system. The results of the 2014 and 2019 pan-European parliamentary elections are analyzed; it is shown how positions of the leading European parties represented in the European Parliament have changed. The reasons for the change in the electoral results of these parties, including the growing popularity of Eurosceptic parties, are indicated. It is noted to which EU member states the most popular European parties belong, and what the reason for this distribution is. The article presents new trends in the development of the Institute of European parties associated with an active use of new communication technologies in party building, as well as the emergence of a new type of European parties that advocate the federalization of the European Union.


2021 ◽  
Vol 103 (3) ◽  
pp. 83-93
Author(s):  
Boris Guseletov ◽  

The article explores the formation of a single European socio-political space and the evolution of the institution of pan-European political parties (Europarties). It is shown that the growth of practical and scientific interest to the European parties was associated with the gradual strengthening of the role and influence of this relatively new institution in the political system of the EU. The authors identified new trends in the development of the institute of European parties. On the one hand, the confrontation between the supporters of European integration (Eurooptimists) and their opponents (Eurosceptics) has intensified. On the other hand, the format of relations between individual European parties (in particular, the Party of European Socialists, which traditionally supports the expansion of ties between governments and society) with European civil society and key political institutions of the EU (the European Council, the European Commission and the European Parliament) is gradually changing. Based on the analysis of materials related to the activities of the Party of European Socialists (PES) in the last two years, it is shown that this party has managed to create specific tools and mechanisms to strengthen its ties with civil activists (the so-called PES networks on various issues), national member parties, to involve representatives of this party in its work in the European Council, the European Commission and the European Parliament.


2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Amanda Richardson

<p><b>This thesis investigates responses in voting behaviour and media perceptions to the presence of media scandals about politicians and associated political parties during the 2017 New Zealand general election. A repeated measures design was used wherein 351 participants were recruited before the start of the election campaign, primarily from an Introductory Psychology course at Victoria University of Wellington. Follow-up surveys were conducted at three time points throughout the two month campaign. Participants were randomly allocated into one of two conditions for each follow-up survey. Half the participants were given a real news article to read about a media scandal, the other half read an article about a policy platform by the same political party. At the end of the election campaign, participants were asked about their voting behaviours. A second study was conducted after Labour Party leader, Jacinda Ardern, was announced Prime Minister with participants recruited via social media sites ‘Twitter’ and ‘Facebook’. In this study, 153 participants recalled information about scandals that were present in the media during the election campaign.</b></p> <p>Results showed that political scandals in news media do have an influence on voter perceptions, but not in an easily predictable way. Prior perceptions of political parties were the best predictors of who participants intended to vote for. Participants responded most strongly to public policy articles rather than scandal information, particularly those more knowledgeable of New Zealand’s political system, and therefore likely more engaged with politics in general. Further, there was evidence that information presented in the media influenced how participants viewed political parties that were not involved in the scandal, which is an important under a proportional voting system like MMP which requires understanding of the relationships between parties.</p> <p>Evidence was also found for a backlash effect towards the media wherein participants who were exposed to scandal information would displayed a decrease in trust towards the general media, consistent with the idea that one reason why voters may not respond negatively to scandal information reflects the decision that the source of the information is not credible. Future research should consider more targeted analysis on the different sources of news media, especially new media like blogs, social media, and entertainment news.</p>


Author(s):  
Elin Haugsgjerd Allern ◽  
Tània Verge

How parties structure their interaction with social groups is a key determinant of their capacity to provide linkage between the institutions of government and the public at large. This chapter investigates the extent to which modern political parties use formal measures to connect to relevant societal interests and strengthen their anchorage in society. The analysis centres on parties’ use of formal rules governing affiliation and representation to link with externally organized interests and parties’ establishment of sub-organizations with representation rights within the party. The chapter authors develop and test several hypotheses concerning cross-country and within-country sources of variation in formal linkage and test them empirically. In addition, they examine whether formal status and representation rights shape parties’ ability to represent descriptively the associated latent social interests focusing on the case of women and ethnic minorities.


Author(s):  
Sona N. Golder ◽  
Ignacio Lago ◽  
André Blais ◽  
Elisabeth Gidengil ◽  
Thomas Gschwend

This chapter argues that individual voting behaviour and the strategies chosen by political parties across multiple electoral arenas should be considered jointly. Existing literature points to the importance of an election as a major driving force in voting behaviour, but it is argued that voters and parties may differ in their assessments of the importance of elections at different levels. The chapter discusses how the effect of the importance of an electoral arena, for both voter and party behaviour, will be conditioned by electoral institutions and characteristics of parties and the party system, in addition to individual voter characteristics contributing to it.


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