Appeals to the people: A content analysis of references to the people in traditional media, social media, and parliamentary materials

Abstract

Political representation lies at the heart of representative democracy. In order to signal their connection to the people they are representing, politicians often refer to “the people.” In this study, we focus on how politicians refer to the people and how this varies across three main platforms of communication differing in access and formality: news media, social media, and the parliament. Through an in-depth content analysis of news articles, politicians’ social media posts and parliamentary speeches (N = 1668), we examine how Dutch politicians address the people in terms of “advocacy” for the people and in “opposition” to other actors; which politicians most commonly refer to the people; which communication platforms are predominantly used for this, and whether these references to the people vary across time. We find that references to the people did not differ between election and non-election years. Yet, parties and communication platform both play important roles: references to the people manifest themselves more frequently in social media and in communication from politicians from parties on the left as well as those scoring higher on the populism scale. We also find that there is little variation in advocative references to the people, while communication that includes oppositional references is more prominent among populist actors and those positioned on the political left.