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How Do Hungarian Politicians Reach Their Voters?

Television is still the main source of political information for Hungarians, our Research Affiliate Zsolt Enyedi and Andrea Szabo write in their fifth article on Telex.hu, analyzing the results of a survey by Zavecz Research commissioned by the CEU Democracy Institute.

Less than 10% of the respondents said that they do not use television at all to inform themselves,” while for almost 30% it is of decisive importance. However, compared to 2018, information techniques have become more diverse. “During the 2022 campaign period, voters were characterized by "multitasking", thanks to changes in media consumption habits and increased interest,” the authors write. Compared to 4 years ago, the importance of all sources of information has increased, or at least not decreased.

“The fact that people talked more about politics with their friends during the 2022 campaign period than 4 years earlier (5.4 average points) is also an indication of a more active interest in politics,” they argue, adding that “while in 2018, online news portals were only the fourth most important information source, by 2022 they had become the second most important,” followed by Facebook.

The survey also showed that “the lower the level of education completed by the respondent and, at least in part, the smaller the type of municipality, the more important television becomes for them.” At the same time, “the role of online news portals and Facebook increases as the level of education and, to some extent, the size of the municipality increases, i.e. political information becomes more plural and diverse.”

Age is also a factor: “up to the age of about 47-48, online news channels are now the primary source of information for voters, but after the age of 50 there is a sharp shift, with television (and to some extent radio) becoming increasingly important and almost the sole source of information after the age of 70.”

Read the full article (in Hungarian) here.

Photo: Facebook / Orban Viktor
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