Government approval in Italy : Political cycle, economic expectations and TV coverage

Abstract

This paper analyses government approval in Italy - which has become a key aspect for electoral support in the new party system of the Second Republic - exploring the influence that TV coverage exerts on approval net of traditional accounts of government support. Relying on both aggregate time series and pooled individual-level surveys analyses, it is shown that communication has a sizable impact on government approval. The popularity of Centre-Left and Centre-Right governments is affected evenly by the economy but differently by the news coverage of their activity. People with lower political interest are the most reactive to news coverage of government performance. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.