In the absence of live campaign events such as rallies, political parties invest more than ever on intercepting their constituencies in their digital whereabouts. Not surprisingly, social media platforms are a central gear in the process. The Netherlands is no exception. Dutch citizens were called to elect the members of the House of Representatives (Tweede Kamer) on 15-17 March 2021.
Microtargeting is the protagonist of political campaigning in COVID-19 times.
As part of an interdisciplinary team, we examined tracking Facebook ads in the 2021 Dutch elections to get a better understanding of political ads circulating on social media in the run-up to the Dutch general elections. Furthermore, we examined the impact of political microtargeting on the shaping of political preferences. More information can be found here.
Data Driven campaigning 