Personalization, populism and popularization in the European elections of 2014: the Italian case

The stunning victory of the Democratic Party led by Matteo Renzi, and the debacle both Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italy and for Beppe Grillo’s 5 Stars Movement, in the 2014 elections for the European Parliament, cannot be attributed only to communicational causes. However, especially with regard to the two main contenders, Matteo Renzi and Beppe Grillo, it is reasonable to assume that the communicative performances, and specifically the television ones, have played an important role in “assisting” the voters’ decisions. One element of interest, in this context, is the possibility to compare three different models of highly personalized political communication (Graber, 1980; Patterson, 1993; Calise, 2010), of more or less veiled populist message directed to an electorate with a slight political affiliation (Mény, Surel, 2001; Taguieff, 2002), of the declination of the so-called "pop politics" (Street, 1997; Mazzoleni, Sfardini, 2009).

The stunning victory of the Democratic Party led by Matteo Renzi, and the debacle both Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italy and for Beppe Grillo’s 5 Stars Movement, in the 2014 elections for the European Parliament, cannot be attributed only to communicational causes. However, especially with regard to the two main contenders, Matteo Renzi and Beppe Grillo, it is reasonable to assume that the communicative performances, and specifically the television ones, have played an important role in “assisting” the voters’ decisions. One element of interest, in this context, is the possibility to compare three different models of highly personalized political communication (Graber, 1980; Patterson, 1993; Calise, 2010), of more or less veiled populist message directed to an electorate with a slight political affiliation (Mény, Surel, 2001; Taguieff, 2002), of the declination of the so-called "pop politics" (Street, 1997; Mazzoleni, Sfardini, 2009). On the one hand, the figure of Silvio Berlusconi and the Beppe Grillo correspond to a large extent with those of the respective political parties. On the other, the political and communication strategy of Matteo Renzi has changed the face of the party, exasperating traits of personalization that previous secretaries have only partially dared to experiment. It is fairly straightforward to label Berlusconi and Grillo’s political programs and communication as "populist". But different aspects of the political program and communicative strategy denounced a certain degree of populism also in “Renzi the victorious”. The main interest for a research that is based on the presence of the three leaders of in-depth political talk shows in the three weeks preceding the vote, it is that to find, in the comparison of the performances of Berlusconi, Grillo and Renzi, the traces of three different models of "pop politics". That of Comedian of politics Berlusconi (Prospero, 2010); that of who was the winner in forecasts, the comedian worked in politics Grillo; that of Matteo Renzi, awarded for its greater simplicity, but able to very effectively demonstrate its ability to contamination with the styles of "pop".