Messaging Styles Finished
Studying how political elites craft messages and how voters respond
This project examines elite messaging strategies and manifesto analysis, audit experiments on political responsiveness, and studies of linguistic complexity and framing effects in campaign messages.
While much work examines what political elites say and how voters interpret policy content, less is known about the interplay between elite communication style — complexity, framing, source cues — and elite responsiveness to constituent signals.
Approach
- Textual analysis: Developed and validated the LIX readability index on 175 party manifestos from Austria and Germany (1945–2013).
- Survey experiments: Preregistered two-wave vignette and conjoint experiments in Germany (N = 5,800).
- Audit experiments: Confederate-based field experiments measuring MPs' responsiveness to constituent messages of varying style.
Key Findings
- Populist simplicity: Populist parties systematically use less complex language than mainstream competitors.
- Enhanced placement accuracy: Voters locate parties more accurately on the left–right spectrum when campaign messages are simpler.
- Comprehension boost: Simple messages significantly improve citizens' understanding of policy positions.
- Heuristic effects: Simple framing leads citizens to perceive speakers as more "of the people."
- Elite responsiveness: British MPs adjust their communication style in response to constituent signals, but differentiate less than expected across constituent types.
Publications
- Bischof, D., & Senninger, R. (2026). "Can Simple Language Affect Voters' Political Knowledge and Their Beliefs About Politicians?" Journal of Politics.
- Bischof, D., et al. (Forthcoming). "When Legislators Do Not Differentiate." British Journal of Political Science.
- Bischof, D., et al. (2022). "Advantages, Challenges and Limitations of Audit Experiments with Constituents." Political Studies Review.
- Bischof, D., & Senninger, R. (2018). "Simple Politics for the People?" European Journal of Political Research.
Funding
- British Academy/Leverhulme Trust Small Research Grant with Florian Foos & Kyriaki Nanou: €11,000 (2017–2019)