Digital Campaigning and Grassroots Mobilization in Local Elections: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Local elections are key components of democratic representation. They frequently receive less attention by candidates and lower voter turnout than elections at the national level. This systematic literature review collected studies on the impact of social media-based digital campaign activities by candidates in local or subnational elections on voter turnout and other measures of electoral participation. Studies published between 2012 and 2024 were selected for inclusion in this review. An auditable corpus of 857 article rows was created from an article-numbering frame of 860 records. Of these, 42 potentially eligible studies were re-screened using a set of protocol-based eligibility criteria, and 24 studies in the end were included in the synthesis. The Population, Intervention/Exposure, Comparison/Context, and Outcome (PICECO) framework was extended by the study design to guide the screening process for eligibility. Quality appraisal of the included studies employed a set of CASP-based tools as well as the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool 2018. The evidence base for this review comprised studies from Europe, North America, Australia, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and South America. Of the 24 included studies, eight were rated as high quality, 15 as of moderate quality, and one as of low quality. Findings from the studies suggested that social media supported local electoral participation but not automatically. Rather, the influence of social media-based campaign activities on voter turnout was conditional. The strongest evidence for increased voter turnout was found for studies that employed peer-to-peer outreach and/or social-pressure strategies via social ties. Validated turnout records and/or studies that employed structured mobilization designs constituted additional elements of strong evidence. In contrast, findings from studies on candidate pages, paid online advertising by candidates, official voter information provided by governments, and general online information exposed to voters via digital campaign activities were more mixed. Social media is most effective as enabling infrastructure for grassroots mobilization when it provides locally relevant information, activates social networks, and makes a connection between online campaign activities and offline voter participation.