Rasmus Kappelgaard Gustafsson

On social media, politicians often display not only their political actions and stances but also lifestyle-related content, such as their hobbies, favored foods, and cultural tastes. These types of lifestyle-related posts are hardly random but a way politicians can strategically present themselves as more down-to-earth and appeal to certain social groups via their lifestyle. Yet, from the literature, we do not know how voters respond to lifestyle cues from politicians. This dissertation examines how lifestyle cues from politicians influence voters’ perceptions and evaluations of politicians. Using sociological and social psychological theory, the dissertation argues that lifestyle cues affect voters’ assessment of politicians in three ways: (1) the perceived competence and sympathy of politicians; (2) the perceived class they represent; (3) their perceived policy stances. By using data from MPs’ Facebook posts and three survey experiments in the context of Denmark, the dissertation provides three main findings. First, providing lifestyle cues, in itself, does not increase how favorably voters evaluate politicians, especially among in-party voters. Second, voters particularly punish politicians who provide higher-class lifestyle signals. Third, voters infer different political views and signals from politicians’ lifestyle cues. Lifestyle cues signaling high economic capital are associated with economic right-leaning views, while working-class cues are associated with populist right views. Overall, the dissertation underscores that lifestyle cues provide politically relevant signals to voters, but also that displaying your lifestyle, in itself, is a way politicians can gain more votes and be viewed more favorably. 

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