From Friends to Foes? Negative Campaign Tactics on Facebook and Their Effects on User Engagement Across Three National Elections in Sweden (2014–2022)
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19230809 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Andreas Widholm (0000-0002-4869-3577, Department of Media Studies Stockholm University Stockholm Sweden, corresponding author), Mattias Ekman (0000-0002-8866-0972, Department of Media Studies Stockholm University Stockholm Sweden), Walid Al-Saqaf (0000-0002-1993-5696, School of Social Sciences and Humanities Doha Institute for Gradute Studies Doha Qatar) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 49 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Publication date | 2026-08-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Scandinavian Political Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0080-6757 • E-ISSN: 1467-9477 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/1467-9477.70048 |
| OpenAlex | W7164902748 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 38 |
Research has documented an increase in the use of negative campaign strategies during election campaigns worldwide. This study contributes to the literature by offering a longitudinal analysis of how negative statements and moral scandalization strategies by Swedish political parties on Facebook have evolved over time, and whether they contribute to user engagement. Using a census sample ( N = 2,779) of posts published by all parties represented in parliament during the 4 weeks leading up to the elections in 2014, 2018, and 2022, we reveal that targets of negative campaign messages have shifted considerably alongside changing party loyalties. Sweden's increasingly polarized multi‐party system coincides with a general rise in the prominence of negative statements and scandalization, yet we find no clear‐cut indications that these strategies drive user engagement
Census · General election · Parliament · Politics · Sample (material) · User engagement · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Populism, Right-Wing Movements · Social Media and Politics
Cultural Backlash
Pandering, protesting, engaging. Norwegian party leaders on Facebook during the 2013 ‘Short campaign
Go viral on the Facebook! Interactions between candidates and followers on Facebook during the Hungarian general election campaign of 2014
What drives interaction in political actors’ Facebook posts? Profile and content predictors of user engagement and political actors’ reactions
Populist online communication
The routledge companion to media and scandal
Negative campaigning and its consequences
Patterns of Negative Campaigning during the 2019 European Election
Things fall apart, the center cannot hold”
Fear and Loathing in Populist Campaigns? Comparing the Communication Style of Populists and Non-populists in Elections Worldwide
Engagement with candidate posts on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook during the 2019 election
Socio-Mediated Scandals
This is (not) Entertainment!’
The changing political landscape of Sweden
Nationalism vs. Nationalism
The co-construction of political scandal in hybrid media
A new right
Negative Campaigning in a Multiparty System
Unleash Britain’s Potential (To Go Negative)
Are Campaigns Getting Uglier, and Who Is to Blame? Negativity, Dramatization and Populism on Facebook in the 2014 and 2019 EP Election Campaigns
The Fleeting Allure of Dark Campaigns
Fighting the system? Populist radical right parties and party system change
Party system change and negative campaigning in New Zealand
Going Negative, Worldwide
Government Formation and the Radical Right
When the Stakes Are High
The Quantity and the Quality of Party Systems
The Influence of the Negative Campaign on Facebook
The Origins and Consequences of Affective Polarization in the United States
Affective polarization in multiparty systems
In Defense of Negative Campaigning
Old patterns on new clothes? Populism and political scandals in the Nordic countries
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |