No es el qué, es el quiénla importancia del líder político para la aceptación del mensaje
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1
Universidad de Murcia
info
ISSN: 1138-5820
Year of publication: 2025
Issue: 83
Type: Article
More publications in: Revista Latina de Comunicación Social
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Abstract
Introduction:In a contextof increasing personalization of politics, the influence of leaders on communicative processes is increasingly prominent. However, we do not have much evidence comparing the effects ofthe senders and of the topics of the message on the reactions of audiences. Therefore, the present research seeks to test whether the levels of support or rejection of a message are influenced by who its sender is. Methodology: A survey experiment was designed with a total of 719 participants from the panel of the Centro de Estudios Murciano de Opinión Pública (CEMOP). Data collection began on July 9, 2023 and ended on July 21, 2023, in the middle of the electoral campaign for the general elections held in Spain. The participants were randomly divided into four groups and hadto show their levels of support or rejection to amessagepresented in the form of a text-vignette, changing the senderdepending on the group. Results: The findings point to the existence of a singular leadership, that of Santiago Abascal, which has the capacity to influence the responses of individuals even when he does not emitpositional messages. Abascal's presence as a sender influencesthe responses, regardless of the issue at hand orthe attitudes and characteristics of the participants. A "negative personalism" effect is observed, according to which certain individuals only need to know who is defending something in order to reject a message. Discussion: Political leaders can introduce significant biases that condition citizens' responses to the messages issued, regardless of the specific thematic content of the messages. This allows us to reflect on the relationships between leadership and polarization, as well as to attend to the conditioning factors of the success of communication processes. Conclusions:The results of this research have important implications for understanding the positions of voters in the face of the messages
Funding information
Funders
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Fundación Séneca
- 21876/PI/22
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Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades
- FPU20/01033
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