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Do Elections Moderate or Polarize Political Rhetoric?
We study the communication strategies on Twitter-X of 367 political leaders in 21 countries, focusing on electoral competition between populists and non-populists. We measure polarization by the ease with which the leader can be classified as populist or not, conditional on his tweet. We find that political rhetoric becomes more polarized before and around elections dates. This happens because, in pre-electoral quarters, opposite leaders are more likely to: i) talk about different topics, and ii) frame differently the same issues. Our results are consistent with competing politicians targeting different voters, rather than appealing to the same swing voters.
Date:
9 February 2026, 13:30
Venue:
Manor Road Building, Manor Road OX1 3UQ
Venue Details:
Skills Lab
Speaker:
Guido Tabellini (Università Bocconi)
Organising department:
Department of Economics
Part of:
Political Economy Seminar
Booking required?:
Not required
Audience:
Members of the University only
Editor:
Edward Valenzano
