2024-08-01 09:00:44
BOLZANO. “The priority issues for voters, on which they base their vote, change over time. For example, the issue of security becomes important in times of high crime, and that of redistribution in times of strong economic inequality. In the next American presidential elections, the issues of immigration control could be central, given the pressure at the borders, and that of the right to abortion following the restrictive ruling of the US Supreme Court”. This is revealed by a study conducted by the Faculty of Economics of the University of Bolzano, entitled “Strategic Use of Social Media by Political Parties: Evidence from Italy”.
The study examined the messages of Italian political parties on social media from 2015 to 2019, a period that includes the Renzi, Gentiloni and Conte 1 governments. The study found that parties that leaned toward the left tended to focus on economic and inequality issues and vice versa: those considered right-wing focused on taxation and immigration. The researchers, Giacomo Battiston, Federico Boffa, Eugenio Levi and Steven Stillmananalyzed political news and social media messages from political parties, using machine learning methods to categorize the content into immigration, economic and other topics.
They found that the League focuses much more on immigration than other parties such as Forza Italia, Movimento 5 Stelle and Partito Democratico, which focus on the economy. The study highlights that news influences party communication: an increase in news about immigration leads to a 25% increase in messages about immigration from the League, compared to 7% for Forza Italia and 1.5% for the PD.
For the 5 Star Movement, no correlation was found between news and messages. Furthermore, the messages of the League increase Google searches regarding immigration. Using the data of the Ipsos polls and an econometric technique, the study has shown that, in the period considered, The League’s messages increased the party’s votes by 20%, especially to the detriment of the 5 Star Movement, especially by bringing immigration to the center of the debate.
The research highlights how political communication can significantly influence voters’ priorities and their voting intentions.
2024-08-01 09:00:44