FP6 CivicActive The impact of candidates, parties and the media Presented by Dr Susan Banducci Associate Professor in Political Science, University of Exeter, UK

FP6 CivicActive Linking People to the EU: European Parliamentary Elections Second-order elections –Party Campaign Activity –Media coverage –Turnout Do campaigns mobilise voters in European Elections? Party Activity  Media Visibility  Turnout

FP6 CivicActive Data Sources: 1999, 2004 Analysis of News Coverage –Media content analysis of 2 TV news programs, 3-4 newspapers, 3-4 weeks prior to 2004 campaign. –In ,000+ stories and 290,000 actors coded –In UK -. BBC, ITV, The Sun and The Guardian, the Telegraph 2006 Survey of MEPs about Campaign Activity –Web Survey of MEPs elected in 2004 –272 MEPs surveyed –Asked about campaign activity –David Farrell, Simon Hix and Roger Scully Data Sources: 1999, 2004 Analysis of News Coverage –Media content analysis of 2 TV news programs, 3-4 newspapers, 3-4 weeks prior to 2004 campaign. –In ,000+ stories and 290,000 actors coded –In UK -. BBC, ITV, The Sun and The Guardian, the Telegraph

FP6 CivicActive MEPs Campaign Activity % of MEPs who said they spent “a lot” of time on the listed activity.

FP6 CivicActive Where were the most active campaigns? According to the responses, highest Austria, Slovenia and Finland; lowest in Cyprus and Latvia The New member states in 2004, less likely to engage in campaign activity Lower campaign activity in countries with compulsory voting

FP6 CivicActive

Source: 2004 European Election Study Content Analysis

FP6 CivicActive Parties, candidates and media coverage Correlation between party activity and visibility –Greater campaign activity, greater visibility of both EU and EP elections in newspapers (not TV) –0 to 1 on activity scale 27% EP news in newspapers Correlation between party activity and # of EU actors in the news –Positive relationship between party activity and visibility of EU actors in EU news (not significant though)

FP6 CivicActive Turnout: Greater Campaign Visibility, less voter drop-off from last national election 8% less drop-off More EU actors, greater turnout Figure 2b

FP6 CivicActive Figure 3: Information and Knowledge During the Campaign Source: Flash Eurobarometer, 2004

FP6 CivicActive Conclusions Though generally low, increasingly visible elections and more focused on EU-level actors. Parties, candidates do engage in mobilising activity. Party activity leads to greater visibility of the elections in the news. When contested, voters likely to have more knowledge and more likely to participate.