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Do Spitzenkandidaten really make a difference? An experiment on the effectiveness of personalized European Parliament election campaigns

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  • Katjana Gattermann
  • Franziska Marquart

Abstract

This article investigates the impact of pan-European candidates in European Parliament election campaigns. It focusses on the two 2019 nominees for the European Greens , who were Dutch and German, respectively. We conducted a pre-registered experiment in the Netherlands and Germany in early April 2019 to test the effects of (non-)personalized campaign posters on (a) turnout intention and (b) vote intention for the Greens alongside possible mediating effects of campaign and candidate evaluations. Our results suggest that while personalized campaigns as opposed to non-personalized campaigns may not matter per se for turnout and vote intention, individual candidates can make a difference in European elections, particularly with respect to vote intention. As such, the results have important implications for our understanding of European Parliament election campaigns.

Suggested Citation

  • Katjana Gattermann & Franziska Marquart, 2020. "Do Spitzenkandidaten really make a difference? An experiment on the effectiveness of personalized European Parliament election campaigns," European Union Politics, , vol. 21(4), pages 612-633, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:eeupol:v:21:y:2020:i:4:p:612-633
    DOI: 10.1177/1465116520938148
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Simon Richter & Sebastian Stier, 2022. "Learning about the unknown Spitzenkandidaten: The role of media exposure during the 2019 European Parliament elections," European Union Politics, , vol. 23(2), pages 309-329, June.
    2. Katjana Gattermann, 2020. "Media Personalization during European Elections: the 2019 Election Campaigns in Context," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(S1), pages 91-104, September.

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