Personalization of politics between television and the internet : leader effects in the 2013 Italian parliamentary election

Abstract

This paper provides an empirical assessment of the relationship between media exposure and leader effects on voting through an analysis of Italy––an ideal case for the study of the personalization of politics and its connection with political communication. The results show the dominance of leader effects among voters strongly exposed to television and a somewhat differentiated impact on Internauts. By looking at leader effects across different audiences, this paper elaborates on the missing link between electoral research and political communication, and it eventually speaks to the broader question of how important media is for the outcome of contemporary democratic elections.