Fear in the Communication Strategy of the United Right: An Analysis of Posts on Platform X During the 2023 Election Campaign

Abstract

The article analyses the mechanisms of fear management strategies deployed in the 2023election campaign of the United Right coalition. The primary goal was to identify the politicalthemes and narratives employed to evoke fear and uncertainty among voters. The analysis was based on material posted on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter) on the official accounts of the political parties Law and Justice (PiS) and Sovereign Poland (SP), as well as their respective leaders, Mateusz Morawiecki and Zbigniew Ziobro. The study employed Martha Nussbaum's typology of fear, which encompasses fear of economic insecurity, demonization of political opponents, and the creation of external threats, as a framework for analysis. The results demonstrate that Donald Tusk and the Civic Platform, social and national security, immigration, and relations with the European Union, were the primary issues utilized to instil fear.