Start Spreading the News: A Comparative Experiment on the Effects of Populist Communication on Political Engagement in Sixteen European Countries

Michael Hameleers; Linda Bos; Nayla Fawzi; Carsten Reinemann; Ioannis Andreadis; Nicoleta Corbu; Christian Schemer; Anne Schulz; Tamir Shaefer; Toril Aalberg; Sofia Axelsson; Rosa Berganza; Cristina Cremonesi; Stefan Dahlberg; Claes H. de Vreese; Agnieszka Hess; Evangelia Kartsounidou; Dominika Kasprowicz; Joerg Matthes; Elena Negrea-Busuioc; Signe Ringdal; Susana Salgado; Karen Sanders; Desirée Schmuck; Jesper Stromback; Jane Suiter; Hajo Boomgaarden; Keren Tenenboim-Weinblatt; Naama Weiss-Yaniv

doi:10.1177/1940161218786786

Start Spreading the News: A Comparative Experiment on the Effects of Populist Communication on Political Engagement in Sixteen European Countries

Michael Hameleers, Linda Bos, Nayla Fawzi, Carsten Reinemann, Ioannis Andreadis, Nicoleta Corbu, Christian Schemer, Anne Schulz, Tamir Shaefer, Toril Aalberg, Sofia Axelsson, Rosa Berganza, Cristina Cremonesi, Stefan Dahlberg, Claes H. de Vreese, Agnieszka Hess, Evangelia Kartsounidou, Dominika Kasprowicz, Joerg Matthes, Elena Negrea-BusuiocSigne Ringdal, Susana Salgado, Karen Sanders, Desirée Schmuck, Jesper Stromback, Jane Suiter, Hajo Boomgaarden, Keren Tenenboim-Weinblatt^*, Naama Weiss-Yaniv

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Communication and Journalism

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

43 Scopus citations

Abstract

Although populist communication has become pervasive throughout Europe, many important questions on its political consequences remain unanswered. First, previous research has neglected the differential effects of populist communication on the Left and Right. Second, internationally comparative studies are missing. Finally, previous research mostly studied attitudinal outcomes, neglecting behavioral effects. To address these key issues, this paper draws on a unique, extensive, and comparative experiment in sixteen European countries (N = 15,412) to test the effects of populist communication on political engagement. The findings show that anti-elitist populism has the strongest mobilizing effects, and anti-immigrant messages have the strongest demobilizing effects. Moreover, national conditions such as the level of unemployment and the electoral success of the populist Left and Right condition the impact of populist communication. These findings provide important insights into the persuasiveness of populist messages spread throughout the European continent.

Original language	American English
Pages (from-to)	517-538
Number of pages	22
Journal	International Journal of Press/Politics
Volume	23
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/1940161218786786
State	Published - 1 Oct 2018

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The data collection of Poland was supported by the National Science Center, Poland, Grant No. 2015/18/M/HS5/00080. The data collection of Romania was supported by the Doctoral School within the National University of Political Studies and Public Administration. The data collection of the Netherlands was supported by the Amsterdam School of Communication Research. The data collection of Norway was supported by the Department of Sociology and Political Science at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. The data collection of Ireland was supported by the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Dublin City University. The data collection of Portugal was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT): IF/01451/2014/CP1239/CT0004.

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2018.

Keywords

experimental research
internationally comparative research
political engagement
populism
populist communication
social identity framing

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1177/1940161218786786

Cite this

Hameleers, M., Bos, L., Fawzi, N., Reinemann, C., Andreadis, I., Corbu, N., Schemer, C., Schulz, A., Shaefer, T., Aalberg, T., Axelsson, S., Berganza, R., Cremonesi, C., Dahlberg, S., de Vreese, C. H., Hess, A., Kartsounidou, E., Kasprowicz, D., Matthes, J., ... Weiss-Yaniv, N. (2018). Start Spreading the News: A Comparative Experiment on the Effects of Populist Communication on Political Engagement in Sixteen European Countries. International Journal of Press/Politics, 23(4), 517-538. https://doi.org/10.1177/1940161218786786

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title = "Start Spreading the News: A Comparative Experiment on the Effects of Populist Communication on Political Engagement in Sixteen European Countries",

abstract = "Although populist communication has become pervasive throughout Europe, many important questions on its political consequences remain unanswered. First, previous research has neglected the differential effects of populist communication on the Left and Right. Second, internationally comparative studies are missing. Finally, previous research mostly studied attitudinal outcomes, neglecting behavioral effects. To address these key issues, this paper draws on a unique, extensive, and comparative experiment in sixteen European countries (N = 15,412) to test the effects of populist communication on political engagement. The findings show that anti-elitist populism has the strongest mobilizing effects, and anti-immigrant messages have the strongest demobilizing effects. Moreover, national conditions such as the level of unemployment and the electoral success of the populist Left and Right condition the impact of populist communication. These findings provide important insights into the persuasiveness of populist messages spread throughout the European continent.",

keywords = "experimental research, internationally comparative research, political engagement, populism, populist communication, social identity framing",

author = "Michael Hameleers and Linda Bos and Nayla Fawzi and Carsten Reinemann and Ioannis Andreadis and Nicoleta Corbu and Christian Schemer and Anne Schulz and Tamir Shaefer and Toril Aalberg and Sofia Axelsson and Rosa Berganza and Cristina Cremonesi and Stefan Dahlberg and {de Vreese}, {Claes H.} and Agnieszka Hess and Evangelia Kartsounidou and Dominika Kasprowicz and Joerg Matthes and Elena Negrea-Busuioc and Signe Ringdal and Susana Salgado and Karen Sanders and Desir{\'e}e Schmuck and Jesper Stromback and Jane Suiter and Hajo Boomgaarden and Keren Tenenboim-Weinblatt and Naama Weiss-Yaniv",

note = "Funding Information: The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The data collection of Poland was supported by the National Science Center, Poland, Grant No. 2015/18/M/HS5/00080. The data collection of Romania was supported by the Doctoral School within the National University of Political Studies and Public Administration. The data collection of the Netherlands was supported by the Amsterdam School of Communication Research. The data collection of Norway was supported by the Department of Sociology and Political Science at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. The data collection of Ireland was supported by the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Dublin City University. The data collection of Portugal was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT): IF/01451/2014/CP1239/CT0004. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2018.",

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Hameleers, M, Bos, L, Fawzi, N, Reinemann, C, Andreadis, I, Corbu, N, Schemer, C, Schulz, A, Shaefer, T, Aalberg, T, Axelsson, S, Berganza, R, Cremonesi, C, Dahlberg, S, de Vreese, CH, Hess, A, Kartsounidou, E, Kasprowicz, D, Matthes, J, Negrea-Busuioc, E, Ringdal, S, Salgado, S, Sanders, K, Schmuck, D, Stromback, J, Suiter, J, Boomgaarden, H, Tenenboim-Weinblatt, K & Weiss-Yaniv, N 2018, 'Start Spreading the News: A Comparative Experiment on the Effects of Populist Communication on Political Engagement in Sixteen European Countries', International Journal of Press/Politics, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 517-538. https://doi.org/10.1177/1940161218786786

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T2 - A Comparative Experiment on the Effects of Populist Communication on Political Engagement in Sixteen European Countries

AU - Hameleers, Michael

AU - Bos, Linda

AU - Fawzi, Nayla

AU - Reinemann, Carsten

AU - Andreadis, Ioannis

AU - Corbu, Nicoleta

AU - Schemer, Christian

AU - Schulz, Anne

AU - Shaefer, Tamir

AU - Aalberg, Toril

AU - Axelsson, Sofia

AU - Berganza, Rosa

AU - Cremonesi, Cristina

AU - Dahlberg, Stefan

AU - de Vreese, Claes H.

AU - Hess, Agnieszka

AU - Kartsounidou, Evangelia

AU - Kasprowicz, Dominika

AU - Matthes, Joerg

AU - Negrea-Busuioc, Elena

AU - Ringdal, Signe

AU - Salgado, Susana

AU - Sanders, Karen

AU - Schmuck, Desirée

AU - Stromback, Jesper

AU - Suiter, Jane

AU - Boomgaarden, Hajo

AU - Tenenboim-Weinblatt, Keren

AU - Weiss-Yaniv, Naama

N1 - Funding Information: The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: The data collection of Poland was supported by the National Science Center, Poland, Grant No. 2015/18/M/HS5/00080. The data collection of Romania was supported by the Doctoral School within the National University of Political Studies and Public Administration. The data collection of the Netherlands was supported by the Amsterdam School of Communication Research. The data collection of Norway was supported by the Department of Sociology and Political Science at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. The data collection of Ireland was supported by the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Dublin City University. The data collection of Portugal was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT): IF/01451/2014/CP1239/CT0004. Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2018.

PY - 2018/10/1

Y1 - 2018/10/1

N2 - Although populist communication has become pervasive throughout Europe, many important questions on its political consequences remain unanswered. First, previous research has neglected the differential effects of populist communication on the Left and Right. Second, internationally comparative studies are missing. Finally, previous research mostly studied attitudinal outcomes, neglecting behavioral effects. To address these key issues, this paper draws on a unique, extensive, and comparative experiment in sixteen European countries (N = 15,412) to test the effects of populist communication on political engagement. The findings show that anti-elitist populism has the strongest mobilizing effects, and anti-immigrant messages have the strongest demobilizing effects. Moreover, national conditions such as the level of unemployment and the electoral success of the populist Left and Right condition the impact of populist communication. These findings provide important insights into the persuasiveness of populist messages spread throughout the European continent.

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Start Spreading the News: A Comparative Experiment on the Effects of Populist Communication on Political Engagement in Sixteen European Countries

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

UN SDGs

Access to Document

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