Online versus offline: Exploring the link between how candidates campaign and how voters cast their ballot

Trumm, Siim

Abstract

Internet is playing an increasingly important role in shaping citizens’ political experience. We turn to it to consume political news and, in some countries, to even cast our ballots at parliamentary elections. Leading the way in embracing Internet voting (i-voting) is Estonia where nearly half of the ballots cast during the 2019 parliamentary election were submitted online. Using original data from the 2019 Estonian Candidate Study, this paper explores the relationship between how candidates campaign and their electoral performance. It finds greater use of both offline and online campaign tools to contribute to higher vote shares as candidates win more traditional and i-votes. These positive effects are similar in size, in terms of candidates’ overall electoral performance as well as their ability to attract different types of votes. The results show not only that individual-level campaigns continue to matter, but that online campaigns have become as important as offline campaigns for candidates, and voters’ political activity often transcends the medium through which they receive political communication.

Citation

Trumm, S. (2022). Online versus offline: Exploring the link between how candidates campaign and how voters cast their ballot. European Journal of Political Research, 61(2), 485-502. https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6765.12453

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 8, 2021
• Online Publication Date: May 4, 2021
• Publication Date: 2022-03
• Deposit Date: Jan 11, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: May 5, 2023
• Journal: European Journal of Political Research
• Print ISSN: 0304-4130
• Electronic ISSN: 1475-6765
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 61
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 485-502
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6765.12453
• Keywords: Sociology and Political Science
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/5221780
• Publisher URL: https://ejpr.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1475-6765.12453
• Additional Information: This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: TRUMM, S. (2022), Online versus offline: Exploring the link between how candidates campaign and how voters cast their ballot. European Journal of Political Research, 61: 485-502., which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6765.12453. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions. This article may not be enhanced, enriched or otherwise transformed into a derivative work, without express permission from Wiley or by statutory rights under applicable legislation. Copyright notices must not be removed, obscured or modified. The article must be linked to Wiley’s version of record on Wiley Online Library and any embedding, framing or otherwise making available the article or pages thereof by third parties from platforms, services and websites other than Wiley Online Library must be prohibited.