Tipping the Scale? Social Media’s Influences on EU Attitudes and Vote Decision in the Danish 2015 EU Referendum

• In Event: Sinking Ship or Rising Star? Elites, the Media, and Citizens in a Changing European Union

Abstract

Citizens’ media use can be an important predictor of attitudes towards the European Union; those attitudes, in turn, can affect EU-related vote decisions. Elementary changes in the media environment and the increasing pressure on the EU in recent referendums may therefore be connected (e.g. Denmark 2015; The Netherlands, 2016; Brexit, 2016). A one-sided political information exposure on social media platforms can result in polarized political opinions. However, little is known about the consequences of opinion polarization on democratic behavior, such as voting in a referendum. Using a three-wave survey design (n=837), the study investigates if political social media use reinforces existing attitudes towards the EU. Subsequently, positive and negative polarization tendencies are connected to the ‘yes’ or ‘no’ vote of Danish citizens in the 2015 EU referendum. The study points to the relevance of social media as an amplifier of voters’ attitudes that may decide a tight political race.

Authors

• Jakob Ohme, U of Southern Denmark, Centre for Journalism

• Erik Albaek, U of Southern Denmark