Abstract
Electoral programs, like many other political communication tools, have had to adapt to the novelties of digitisation. Assessing their impact in cyberspace is much more abstract and requires strategy. As a consequence, this investigation has arisen. The objective of this study is to examine the relationship between Google searches of the electoral programs of the five main Spanish political parties and the results they obtained in the general elections from 2004 to 2022. To delve into this digital reality, various statistical analyses have been conducted, including modelling based on a binary variable. The results indicate that there is a connection between good electoral results and high consultation rates, with search interest being 169.8% higher in cases where the party improves its results at the polls compared to those in which they worsen.
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Acknowledgements
This research was funded by Lobby y Comunicación en la Unión Europea of the Ministry of Science and Innovation (Spain). Included in the Spanish National R&D&I Programme for Proofs of Concept of the State Programme for Societal Challenges, State Programme for Scientific, Technical and Innovation Research, 2020–2023 (PID2020-118584RB-100).
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Serna-Ortega, Á., Almansa-Martínez, A. (2024). Big Data Analysis of Google Searches for the Prediction of Election Results: A Longitudinal Study. In: Ibáñez, D.B., Castro, L.M., Espinosa, A., Puentes-Rivera, I., López-López, P.C. (eds) Communication and Applied Technologies. ICOMTA 2023. Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies, vol 375. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-7210-4_31
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-7210-4_31
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