“Vote for Me, I Am Authentic”: Performed Political Authenticity on Social Media

Abstract

Authenticity has become a key concept in political communication, particularly during election campaigns, which offer opportunities for politicians to strategically convey an authentic image. Studies show that voters increasingly value politicians who appear authentic, a factor influencing their voting behavior. In particular, social media provides an ideal environment for politicians to perform authenticity during campaigns by allowing them to bypass traditional gatekeepers and present themselves in an unfiltered and intimate way. Previous studies have begun to analyze how politicians perform authenticity on social media. However, few have examined and compared how often and in what ways different politicians present themselves as authentic on social media during election campaigns. Drawing on scholarship on political authenticity and gendered self-presentation, this study examines how politicians construct authenticity through textual and visual elements across social media platforms. We conducted a manual quantitative content analysis of social media posts ( N = 855) on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter by the three German lead candidates running for chancellor during the 2021 federal election. Our findings show that authenticity and its facets were an integral part of all candidates’ social media presence and their election campaign communication. Furthermore, we found differences in how the one female and the two male politicians in our sample perform authenticity.