Closer to the people: A comparative content analysis of populist communication on social networking sites in pre- and post-Election periods

A comparative content analysis explores stylistic and contextual factors that resonate with populist communication on social networking sites (SNSs). Advancing the field, we investigate differences in politicians’ use of populist communication in pre- and post-election periods by analyzing a comprehensive sample of Facebook posts and tweets (N = 1,010) of the leading candidates in the 2017 national parliamentary elections in Austria and the Netherlands. We identify important stylistic elements that resonate with populist political communication such as negative emotions or an us-versus-them rhetoric. Our findings further suggest that although populist communication is more prevalent in the SNS communication of right-wing and left-wing populist parties, political actors across all parties are more likely to use populist communication before than after elections. In line with recent conceptualizations, we argue that populism can be understood as a framework of communication with measurable sub frames, which can be expressed by different political actors with different goals. Understanding populism as a discursive framework of communication can ultimately help to reconcile existing divergent conceptualizations of populism.