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

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 Switz...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Electoral studies 2021-12, Vol.74, p.102401, Article 102401
Main Authors: Giger, Nathalie, Bailer, Stefanie, Sutter, Adrian, Turner-Zwinkels, Tomas
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Candidates
Communication
Elections
Electoral systems
Experiments
Interpersonal communication
Mass media
Personalization
Policy linkages
Political campaigns
Politicians
Privatization
Representation
Social media
Social networks
Twitter
Voters
Voting
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Summary: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.
ISSN:0261-3794
1873-6890
DOI:10.1016/j.electstud.2021.102401