UC Irvine

Why do candidates personalize their election campaigns, and what are the consequences of such a campaign style? As a large body of research indicates, many democracies worldwide are experiencing a shift towards a greater focus on individual politicians rather than political parties. This trend, often referred to as the “personalization of politics,” highlights the increasing prominence of individual political actors at the expense of collective identities, particularly political parties. In the context of elections, this personalization is manifested by candidates using their private lives, personal attributes, or circumstances to appeal to voters. This dissertation comprises three distinct articles investigating the phenomenon of the personalization of election campaigns. The first article examines why certain candidates opt for personalized election campaigns, drawing on existing research on campaign transformations and professionalization. Utilizing data from the Comparative Candidate Survey and employing multilevel Bayesian models, the study reveals that candidates who extensively use social media and engage professional consultants are more likely to personalize their campaigns. These findings shed light on how recent transformations in the campaign environment and In the second article, I employ an alternative approach to measure and evaluate the factors driving the personalization of election campaigns. Instead of relying on surveys of candidates, the study introduces a non-survey-based measure utilizing campaign messages on social media during the 2021 congressional election in Chile. By combining manual coding and supervised learning techniques, the study assesses the extent of personalization in campaigns and tests two hypotheses regarding the relationship between candidates and their parties. This article not only offers a valuable approach to studying the personalization of election campaigns but also provides insights into the factors driving this phenomenon in Chilean elections. The third article addresses the potential effect of personalized campaigns on candidates’ electoral success. Despite extensive research on personalization, few studies have examined its effects. By employing a novel measure of campaign personalization in Chilean elections, the study explores whether personalized campaigns increase candidates’ vote share. It argues that personalized campaigns may mitigate negative perceptions of established political parties, thereby benefiting candidates affiliated with new party labels. The evidence supports this argument, indicating that candidates from new party labels gain a greater electoral advantage from personalized campaigns compared to those from established parties. These findings offer significant implications for understanding the role of campaign personalization in democratic representation.