Awareness of in the 2019 European elections: The effects of news exposure in domestic campaign contexts

With the introduction of the so-called Spitzenkandidaten procedure, by which European party families nominate lead candidates for the post of President of the European Commission for European elections, the European Parliament (EP) sought to raise voter awareness and engagement by personalizing the...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Katjana Gattermann, Claes de Vreese
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publishing 2020-05-01
Series:Research & Politics
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1177/2053168020915332
_version_ 1818113060360945664
author Katjana Gattermann
Claes de Vreese
author_facet Katjana Gattermann
Claes de Vreese
author_sort Katjana Gattermann
collection DOAJ
description With the introduction of the so-called Spitzenkandidaten procedure, by which European party families nominate lead candidates for the post of President of the European Commission for European elections, the European Parliament (EP) sought to raise voter awareness and engagement by personalizing the campaigns. This article studies candidate recognition with respect to Spitzenkandidaten , which is an important prerequisite in the study of personalization effects on voter behaviour. We use novel survey data collected in 10 European countries in the 2019 EP election campaign ( n = 17,027). The article focuses on the role of voters’ news exposure in various media and argues that news exposure is crucial for candidate recognition, but its effect is contingent upon the domestic campaign context. The article is the first to show that the campaign context matters to the extent that news exposure is particularly relevant in those domestic contexts in which Spitzenkandidaten were not previously present. In other campaign contexts additional news exposure adds little to the effect of news exposure on candidate recognition. The results have important implications for understanding EP election campaigns.
first_indexed 2024-12-11T03:28:49Z
format Article
id doaj.art-5cb6a4373c0a4ecd89acb4ca8ea0f1e9
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 2053-1680
language English
last_indexed 2024-12-11T03:28:49Z
publishDate 2020-05-01
publisher SAGE Publishing
record_format Article
series Research & Politics
spelling doaj.art-5cb6a4373c0a4ecd89acb4ca8ea0f1e92022-12-22T01:22:25ZengSAGE PublishingResearch & Politics2053-16802020-05-01710.1177/2053168020915332Awareness of in the 2019 European elections: The effects of news exposure in domestic campaign contextsKatjana GattermannClaes de VreeseWith the introduction of the so-called Spitzenkandidaten procedure, by which European party families nominate lead candidates for the post of President of the European Commission for European elections, the European Parliament (EP) sought to raise voter awareness and engagement by personalizing the campaigns. This article studies candidate recognition with respect to Spitzenkandidaten , which is an important prerequisite in the study of personalization effects on voter behaviour. We use novel survey data collected in 10 European countries in the 2019 EP election campaign ( n = 17,027). The article focuses on the role of voters’ news exposure in various media and argues that news exposure is crucial for candidate recognition, but its effect is contingent upon the domestic campaign context. The article is the first to show that the campaign context matters to the extent that news exposure is particularly relevant in those domestic contexts in which Spitzenkandidaten were not previously present. In other campaign contexts additional news exposure adds little to the effect of news exposure on candidate recognition. The results have important implications for understanding EP election campaigns.https://doi.org/10.1177/2053168020915332
spellingShingle Katjana Gattermann
Claes de Vreese
Awareness of in the 2019 European elections: The effects of news exposure in domestic campaign contexts
Research & Politics
title Awareness of in the 2019 European elections: The effects of news exposure in domestic campaign contexts
title_full Awareness of in the 2019 European elections: The effects of news exposure in domestic campaign contexts
title_fullStr Awareness of in the 2019 European elections: The effects of news exposure in domestic campaign contexts
title_full_unstemmed Awareness of in the 2019 European elections: The effects of news exposure in domestic campaign contexts
title_short Awareness of in the 2019 European elections: The effects of news exposure in domestic campaign contexts
title_sort awareness of in the 2019 european elections the effects of news exposure in domestic campaign contexts
url https://doi.org/10.1177/2053168020915332
work_keys_str_mv AT katjanagattermann awarenessofinthe2019europeanelectionstheeffectsofnewsexposureindomesticcampaigncontexts
AT claesdevreese awarenessofinthe2019europeanelectionstheeffectsofnewsexposureindomesticcampaigncontexts