TY - JOUR
T1 - Individual drivers of toxicity in radical right-wing populist legislative campaigns
AU - Daniel, William T.
AU - Frelin, Elise
AU - Robert, Max Valentin
AU - Rowley-Abel, Laurence
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2024/3/1
Y1 - 2024/3/1
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
KW - elections
KW - populism
KW - Rhetoric
KW - social media
KW - toxicity
U2 - 10.1080/01402382.2024.2311040
DO - 10.1080/01402382.2024.2311040
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85186434861
SN - 0140-2382
VL - 48
SP - 590
EP - 617
JO - West European Politics
JF - West European Politics
IS - 3
ER -