Work

Policy or person? What voters want from their representatives on Twitter

Year: 2021

Type: article

Abstract: Social media have the potential to transform democracies as they allow for direct contact between representatives and represented. Politicians can use social media to show their policy positions but they can also give insight into their private lives. Based on survey experiments in Germany and Switzerland we show that social media messages about politicians’ private lives rather deter voters. Instead, we find that voters prefer candidates that communicate policy positions. The effect of a policy-oriented communication style on Twitter can even lead to appreciating a politician from a different party in Switzerland, which has an electoral system that gives a strong incentive to cultivate a personal vote.

Source: Electoral Studies

DOI: 10.1016/j.electstud.2021.102401

Authors: Nathalie Giger, Stefanie Bailer, Adrian Sutter, Tomas Turner-Zwinkels

Institutions: University of Geneva, University of Amsterdam, University of Basel, Tilburg University

Language: English

Topic: Social Media and Politics

Subfield: Communication

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $2,730

Funders: National Science Foundation, American Political Science Association, Universität Basel, Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung