Going social: the 2020 regional election campaigns on Facebook between the local and the national

This article focuses on the campaigns for the 2020 regional elections in Italy. Building on the literature referring to the second-order election model, we assess whether, and if so to what extent, regional election campaigns have been nationalized. Indicators of nationalization of the campaigns can be found in the relevance of national actors in political communication strategies thanks to their endorsement of local candidates and their presence at local campaign events. The salience given to national issues and national government performance in regional election campaigns may also reinforce dynamics of nationalization in them. Data are derived from the Facebook messages posted by the three main candidates in each region, and they have been interrogated by means of content analysis using a codebook identifying the main dimensions singled out by the literature. Results suggest that the great heterogeneity of the competitions prevents the identification of a clear pattern. Rather, region-specific and local dynamics are quite evident. In addition, incumbent candidates are unlikely to deploy national frames of reference.