Elecciones 2015 y 2016 en España:  el debate desde los temas a los  “meta-temas” de agenda

Raquel  Rodríguez-Díaz; Antón R.  Castromil

doi:10.4185/RLCS-2020-1444

Authors

Raquel Rodríguez-Díaz Rey Juan Carlos University https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8097-6585
Antón R. Castromil Complutense University https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9461-6647

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4185/RLCS-2020-1444

Keywords:

2015 and 2016 elections; agenda, debate; governance; two-party system; Spain

Abstract

Introduction: This is a research paper that focuses on the Spanish General Elections of 2015 and the subsequent elections, which were held in 2016 as a result of the former ones not producing any agreements leading to the creation of a stable executive. During that period and, in particular, since 2015, politics in Spain overcame a historical two-party domination for the first time in its democracy - on the one hand, the Popular Party (PP) and the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) - giving way to new political parties aspiring to reach national government, for example, Podemos and Ciudadanos. The main elements of the research deal with studies in agenda setting including an analysis of the Spanish public and media agendas, with a particular emphasis on political coverage. Methodology: A content analysis of the press has been carried out (El Mundo and El País) during the campaign period of the aforementioned elections, revealing the most significant topics on the agenda. Results and Discussion: The data produced by the study indicate that the problems deemed important for the country by Spanish voters have been relegated to a second tier during the electoral campaign. Leaders and different groups prefer to highlight issues linked to politics and governance called “meta-topics” in their speeches, centering on pacts, agreements and self-reference rather than the usual issues of the political agenda such as employment, health and education, among others.

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Author Biographies

Raquel Rodríguez-Díaz, Rey Juan Carlos University

Raquel Rodríguez-Díaz has a PhD and Degree in Information Sciences from Universidad Complutense de Madrid and is a Full University Professor in the field of journalism at the Communication Sciences Faculty of Universidad Rey Juan Carlos. She researches the effects of the media, political communication, the framing theory and the agenda-setting through the topics of Spanish public opinion. She has certified experience of several sexenniums in research and has participated in national and international projects with public and private funding. She has been member of the research group Agenda and vote in the Information Sciences Faculty of Universidad Complutense de Madrid.

Antón R. Castromil, Complutense University

Antón R. Castromil: PhD in Communication from Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM), he has studies in Communication and Journalism from Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca, Political Sciences from UCM and Poll Data Analysis from University of Essex (The United Kingdom) and is Professor at the Applied Sociology Department of UCM. He has been a visiting researcher in Universidad de Cabo Verde, la Universidade Técnica of Lisbon (Portugal) and the University of Hull (The United Kingdom). He has been a researcher of several projects funded by the Spanish National Plan of Research and Development since 2008. His researches cover political communication, public opinion and the effects of the media in democratic regimes. His work in communication theory has the objective of proving the explanatory quality of new and traditional media in the public opinion process, with a marked focus on the poll data analysis, content analysis and focus groups methodology.

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