Mac's Poll - Let's Vote

The campaign for the general election has swapped traditional political rallies for television appearances, preferably on entertainment shows.

Aides to the main candidates admit that they are trying to tap into a massive audience that can only be reached via television, with the reaction on social media later amplifying the impact of TV appearances.
Never before has a Spanish election race been so focused on the small screen. The change is part of a larger shift in which the top-down method of campaigning has been mostly abandoned for a more interactive relationship with potential voters.

This reflects the fact that three of the four main nominees to La Moncloa prime ministerial palace are in their late 30s and early 40s, and well-versed in the use of online tools. The emerging parties Podemos and Ciudadanos, in particular, owe much of their spectacular growth to social media.

In fact, these elections are being viewed practically as a generational battle between the old and the new. Communications experts now talk about “the new politics,” about “entertainment politics” and even about “pop campaigns” to explain this new effort to reach out to voters.

A study by Kantar, the world leader in market analysis, shows that 53.8 percent of Spaniards report following politics mostly on TV, followed by digital media for 21.9 percent.

These figures validate parties’ efforts to focus on television as the key battleground for votes, in an election with more undecided voters than ever before and surveys that show the Popular Party (PP), Socialists, Podemos and Ciudadanos running neck and neck in all the major cities.