The pictures of the US Capitol attack, on January 6, 2021, represent a before and after in a country marked by the culture of political polarization. Following a presidential campaign based on misinformation and accusations of electoral fraud by Republican candidate Donald Trump, the level of maximum polarization causes a climate of social rupture. Faced with this, the Democratic candidate and winner of the elections, Joe Biden, projects a discourse of institutional stability and legality as a strategy before public opinion. Two years later, the abrupt division of the US electorate is evident, with a significant percentage of Republican voters questioning the legitimacy of the electoral process. The objective of this research is to find out the strategies of political polarization deployed by Donald Trump and Joe Biden on Twitter in the 2020-2021 presidential transition period, as well as the public’s response. Based on a general sample of 1,060 tweets, a comparative content analysis methodology with a triple approach (quantitative-qualitative-discursive) is applied, based on the study of themes, emotions, and the ability to go viral of the messages of both political leaders. The results confirm a Trump’s speech defined by polarization, misinformation and the attack on the democratic system, relegating information from his presidential administration in the last months of his term to the background. On the contrary, Biden avoids confrontation and reinforces his legitimacy as president-elect, by announcing management measures of the future government. The engagement value of the social audience on Twitter is also added, with a position of support for the winner of the elections.

El asalto al Capitolio y el proceso de impeachment contra Donald Trump, tras las elecciones en EEUU (3-N), reabren el debate sobre el poder de la Retórica en el discurso político. Un líder no sometido a reglas impone el lenguaje de la desinformación y del populismo como eje del relato. Twitter se convierte en una herramienta para la deslegitimación de las instituciones, a través de un mensaje que arenga a las masas a la movilización. El objetivo principal del estudio es conocer la temática y estrategias discursivas de Trump en Twitter, dirigidas a denunciar la conspiración y el fraude de los resultados electorales. Aplicamos una metodología de análisis de contenido triangulado basada en el uso de palabras claves (15.365) sobre una muestra general de tuits (721) publicados por el mandatario desde el día después de las elecciones hasta la proclamación de Joe Biden como presidente electo de EEUU. El avance de resultados pone de relieve la influencia del líder, por delante de gobiernos y partidos, el poder de un lenguaje simple y subliminal, el sesgo personal de ganador o de víctima y una capacidad de producción de falacias en Twitter sin precedentes. Los efectos de la mentira de Trump sobre la audiencia social requieren de acciones conjuntas de instituciones, medios de comunicación y plataformas sociales que garanticen el futuro de la democracia.

The institutional political crisis is posited to be a great risk facing twenty-first-century societies. The instability of democracy, the increase in misinformation in electoral processes, and distrust by citizens are facts that are confirmed by studies such as The Economist Intelligence Unit (2018) or Freedom in the World (2018). In the context of the most recent US elections (3-Nov-2020), President Donald Trump initiated a dialog focused on an allegation of electoral fraud that mobilized the masses and culminated in an assault on the Capitol. In parallel, Twitter endorses the role of journalism (@ABC, @AP, @CBSNews, @CNN, @FoxNews, @NBCNews, and @Reuters) as a gatekeeper to lies on the Internet. The aim of this study is to determined how the media treated the electoral process on their Twitter accounts, analyze the strategies they followed to combat Trump’s fallacy, and verify the extent to which they contributed or not to the spread of the conspiracy theory. Using a general sample of tweets (n1 = 3,577), we applied a comparative content analysis methodology with a three-pronged approach (quantitative-qualitative-discursive) based on the use of keyword indicators (n2 = 34,430). The results confirm that the media offered verified content on the electoral process, using different sources and avoiding reproduction of Donald Trump’s delegitimization speech. In general, they engaged in a fight against the theory of electoral fraud, against disinformation, and against the polarization of citizens, which are factors that have marked a scenario of doubt about the future of democracy.

The climate of division and polarization in the US politics is increasing, going beyond the time in the office of a specific leader. Several political or technological challenges have ended up eroding this trust, making social cohesion difficult. In this context, this research examines the communication strategies of the elected president Biden after the 2020 elections, shedding light on how his legitimacy was built. All the messages that the Democrat published on his personal Twitter account (@JoeBiden) were collected, from the day after the presidential elections (4 November 2020) until his inauguration as president of the United States (20 January 2021). Using a content analysis method on issue/game frame and dissemination of the messages (n = 379), and an analysis of the 100 first keywords, results showed a plan of the Democratic candidate to reinforce the role of public institutions but without interaction with the polarized electorate. In this sense, the strategies of the president-elect related to the promotion of political action, the call for unity, and the fight against the pandemic stood out. The frequent use of words with a positive attitude reveals how Biden avoided confrontation with Donald Trump.

This study analyses the digital communication strategies of the radical right parties VOX (Spain) and Chega (Portugal) on the social media platforms X, Instagram, and TikTok during the electoral periods. Using a comparative content analysis with quantitative and qualitative approaches, the research reveals that both parties employ a populist discourse marked by confrontation with the political elite and the use of emotional appeals to mobilize their followers. VOX directs its attacks at the left and the Spanish Prime Minister, while Chega emphasizes criticism of the political system as a whole. The results show that polarization and the evocation of emotions such as indignation, pride, and hope are central strategies in their posts. Furthermore, messages with strong emotional charge and audiovisual elements generate a greater impact, especially on TikTok and Instagram, where virality is significantly higher than on X. The study concludes that the communication strategies of these parties are based on ‘data populism’, where interaction and visibility on social media reinforce their political narratives and consolidate their base of support.

El discurso propagandístico y publicitario, tanto de los líderes, como de los partidos políticos, viene llenándose, en los últimos tiempos de falsedades, fakes e informaciones de dudosa veracidad y escaso rigor contrastado. Ello encuentra, en la redes sociales, un medio idóneo para la difusión de estos mensajes; en especial Twitter, la red social más usada para temas políticos. Y, sobre todo, en periodos electorales, lo que preocupa sobremanera a los votantes, que ya manifiestas sin temor que la corrupción es una de sus principales inquietudes, tal y como indican algunos sondeos. Por ello, el objetivo de este estudio es descubrir el tratamiento político de la corrupción en Twitter, identificando las marcas del lenguaje falso de los candidatos y verificando la opinión de los expertos sobre la necesidad de incrementar la transparencia pública. La metodología usada parte del análisis de contenido cuantitativo, cualitativo y discursivo de enfoque comparado, focalizado en las cuentas personales de los cinco candidatos a las Elecciones Generales de España en 2019. Ello es completado con un panel de expertos a profesionales y académicos del sector de la comunicación política. Los resultados ratifican que, ciertamente, los políticos impulsan un discurso falaz y que, debido a ello, se hace más necesaria que nunca una política de transparencia absoluta.