Candidates rather than context shape campaign sentiment in French Presidential Elections (1965–2017)

The manuscript explores whether and how the strategic context of elections and candidate attributes affect campaign sentiment. Studying five decades of French presidential elections, it provides the first longitudinal test of campaign tone outside the USA. Thereby, the paper examines concerns of an increase in negativity due to changes in electoral competition. It takes leverage from the electoral system, to study whether the strategic environment of elections (first vs. second rounds of elections) or candidate characteristics (ideology and outsider status) determine the use of positive and negative tone. To this end, the paper applies sentiment analysis to personal manifestos (professions de foi) issued by all candidates running in presidential elections (1965–2017) and validates the French Lexicoder Sentiment Dictionary for longitudinal studies of campaign tone. Results reject worries about an increase in negativity in French elections over time. Moreover, while context matters to some extent, candidate attributes are by far more important for explaining campaign sentiment in presidential races. The findings contribute to research on the role of sentiment in electoral competition and tackle broader issues related to the impact of positive and negative political communication for elections and democracies.

La (dé)nomination du « peuple français » par Emmanuel Macron et Marine Le Pen Débat de l’entre-deux-tours du 3 mai 2017 : une étude lexicale et sémantique

In the proposed article, the authors investigate how the candidates to the French presidential elections, Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen, named their fellow citizens, what types of denominations the two candidates used when referring to the French people during the TV-debate which took place in May 2017. The authors have carried out several discourse analytic studies on the final debate of the French presidential elections (Sullet-Nylander & Roitman 2010a, 2010b, 2011 and 2016). This new study deals with the concepts of denomination and/or nomination within a discourse analytic framework based on theoretical models and definitions by Kleiber (2001) and Siblot (2001). The identification of “les paradigmes désignationnels” (Charaudeau & Maingueneau 2002: 415) enables the collection of relevant semantic and lexical information related to this specific genre and discourse type. The analyses are quantitative and qualitative as well as comparative (between the two candidates). The following research questions are addressed: How do both candidates refer to French people during their exchanges? Do the differences in the frequency of a particular denomination depend on the political orientation of the candidates? What electoral strategies can be linked to these (de)nominations? The results show several differences between the two candidates, one of which the most salient being Marine Le Pen’s use of the lexeme “compatriotes” while Macron prefers “concitoyens”.