Individual drivers of toxicity in radical right-wing populist legislative campaigns

William T. Daniel*, Elise Frelin, Max Valentin Robert, Laurence Rowley-Abel

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

17 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Most studies of political rhetoric examine only political leadership or treat parties as unified actors. However, what happens where electoral systems incentivise candidates to diverge from stated party messaging during campaigns? This article uses novel data on political experience and candidate backgrounds from the 2022 French parliamentary elections to explore the individual drivers of campaigning behaviour. The choice of France, with its multiple and prominent radical right-wing parties, allows for the consideration of both within- and between-party differences in individual campaigning. Using the salient example of toxic rhetoric, findings demonstrate that even when party leaders publicly urge moderation, individual candidates do not necessarily follow along. This implies the need for additional focus on the individual-level drivers of political semantics, especially where candidates are apt to campaign independently, using social media platforms to communicate directly with citizens.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)590-617
Number of pages28
JournalWest European Politics
Volume48
Issue number3
Early online date1 Mar 2024
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 1 Mar 2024

Keywords

  • elections
  • populism
  • Rhetoric
  • social media
  • toxicity

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Individual drivers of toxicity in radical right-wing populist legislative campaigns'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this