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Positioning analysis of Spanish politicians through their Twitter posts versus Spanish public opinion

Author

Listed:
  • Azucena Penelas-Leguía

    (Universidad de Alcalá)

  • Estela Nunez-Barriopedro

    (Universidad de Alcalá)

  • Jose María López-Sanz

    (Universidad de Alcalá)

  • Rafael Ravina-Ripoll

    (Universidad de Cádiz)

Abstract

The evolution of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has changed the way we communicate. Access to the Internet and social networks has even changed the way we organise ourselves socially. Despite advances in this field, research on the use of social networks in political discourse and citizens’ perceptions of public policy remains scarce. So, the empirical study of politicians’ discourse on social networks in relation to citizens’ perception of public and fiscal policies according to their political affinity is of particular interest. The aim of the research is, therefore, to analyse positioning, from a dual perspective. Firstly, the study analyses the positioning in the discourse of the communication campaigns posted on social networks of Spain’s most prominent politicians. And secondly, it evaluates whether this positioning is reflected in citizens’ opinions about the public and fiscal policies being implemented in Spain. To this end, a qualitative semantic analysis and a positioning map is performed on a total of 1553 tweets published between 1 June and 31 July 2021 by the leaders of the top ten Spanish political parties. In parallel, a cross-sectional quantitative analysis is carried out, also through positioning analysis, based on the database of the Public Opinion and Fiscal Policy Survey of July 2021 by the Sociological Research Centre (CIS), whose sample is 2849 Spanish citizens. The results show a significant difference in the discourse of political leaders’ social network posts—which is more pronounced between right-wing and left-wing parties—and only some differences in citizens’ perception of public policies according to their political affinity. This work contributes to identifying the differentiation and positioning of the main parties and helps to guide the discourse of their posts.

Suggested Citation

  • Azucena Penelas-Leguía & Estela Nunez-Barriopedro & Jose María López-Sanz & Rafael Ravina-Ripoll, 2023. "Positioning analysis of Spanish politicians through their Twitter posts versus Spanish public opinion," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-11, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:10:y:2023:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-023-01805-9
    DOI: 10.1057/s41599-023-01805-9
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Michael Hameleers, 2022. "Empowering the People’s Truth Through Social Media? (De)Legitimizing Truth Claims of Populist Politicians and Citizens," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 10(1), pages 210-219.
    2. Javier Lorenzo-Rodríguez & Mariano Torcal, 2022. "Twitter and Affective Polarisation: Following Political Leaders in Spain," South European Society and Politics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(1), pages 97-123, January.
    3. Isabel Rodríguez & Diego Santamaría & Luis Miller, 2022. "Electoral Competition and Partisan Affective Polarisation in Spain," South European Society and Politics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(1), pages 27-50, January.
    4. Heidi Schulze & Marlene Mauk & Jonas Linde, 2020. "How Populism and Polarization Affect Europe’s Liberal Democracies," Politics and Governance, Cogitatio Press, vol. 8(3), pages 1-5.
    5. Michael Greenacre, 2019. "Use of Correspondence Analysis in Clustering a Mixed-Scale Data Set with Missing Data," Economics Working Papers 1626, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    6. Mariano Torcal & Emily Carty, 2022. "Partisan Sentiments and Political Trust: A Longitudinal Study of Spain," South European Society and Politics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(1), pages 171-196, January.
    7. Bárbara Castillo-Abdul & Ana Pérez-Escoda & Estela Núñez-Barriopedro, 2022. "Promoting Social Media Engagement Via Branded Content Communication: A Fashion Brands Study on Instagram," Media and Communication, Cogitatio Press, vol. 10(1), pages 185-197.
    8. Mariano Torcal & Josep M. Comellas, 2022. "Affective Polarisation in Times of Political Instability and Conflict. Spain from a Comparative Perspective," South European Society and Politics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(1), pages 1-26, January.
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    Cited by:

    1. Andres Karjus & Christine Cuskley, 2024. "Evolving linguistic divergence on polarizing social media," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-14, December.

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