How Iniciativa Liberal Used Negative Campaigning on X for the 2024 Portuguese General Elections

Abstract

This article analyses the digital communication of Iniciativa Liberal during the 2024 Portuguese General Elections. The party led by Rui Rocha concentrated on discrediting the public policies of the outgoing government, which was led by the Portuguese Socialist Party, attacking its political actors and the ideological positions of the political left, accusing them of wanting to impoverish Portugal. Through a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the content published on the social network X, the study seeks to quantify the frequency with which the party resorted to negative expressions and political attacks, to the detriment of its own merits and proposals for the country. In addition, by analysing different variables, the research explores the relationship between the type of political content and the level of online engagement generated. The results obtained contribute to understanding political communication strategies in the digital age and to the debate on the impact of populism on the Portuguese political landscape.