Accordingly, 67% of French people say they will likely vote this Sunday, June 9. People under 25 and the working class are the social groups with the highest rates of abstention. Faced with this lack of enthusiasm, the candidates are trying to mobilize voters by any means necessary, particularly through social media. This is the case, for example, with Jordan Bardella, the National Rally’s lead candidate for these elections. The candidate is banking on his strong performance on TikTok, in particular, to mobilize segments of the population that are most politically disengaged—especially young people. But are social media platforms truly capable of bringing the most politically disengaged groups back to the polls? In light of the findings from a chapter titled “Are Votes Decided on Social Media?” co-authored in the anthology Citizens and Parties After 2022: Disengagement, Fragmentation, published in May 2024, we offer some insights here.
According to the 2022 PEOPLE survey, during the 2022 presidential election, nearly one-third of people under 35 reported having viewed, shared, or commented on election-related content on social media. Thus, among young people, social media may foster political participation by enabling more sporadic and flexible engagement, reflecting a new relationship with politics.
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According to the 2022 People survey, among those who engage in these online political activities, 36% belong to the working class (blue-collar workers and white-collar employees) and 15% to intermediate professions (such as nurses, elementary school teachers, and technicians). Struggling to make ends meet also appears to be a social characteristic associated with online political engagement, though it is not yet fully understood why.
Social media thus appears to be making politics more accessible to segments of the population that have traditionally been less engaged, by reducing the time constraints and the need for specific skills typically associated with political activities. People can stay informed anywhere, anytime, and in a less formal way on social media, even though these platforms may be criticized for the unreliability of the information they disseminate.
Aware of this reality, candidates are increasingly incorporating social media into their political communication strategies. They are expanding their online presence not only on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, but now also on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitch.
Jordan Bardella is a perfect example of this heavy use of social media, with 1.3 million followers on TikTok and 500,000 followers and 1,323 posts on Instagram. In fact, each platform attracts relatively distinct audiences: Facebook is fairly representative of the French population in terms of age and socioeconomic categories, while TikTok, Instagram, and Twitch attract younger users, and X appeals to those most interested in politics. By maintaining a presence on as many platforms as possible, candidates hope to reach the widest possible audience.
However, while social media use is steadily increasing among the French population—47% of French people report having followed the 2022 presidential campaign at least once via public social media platforms (Instagram, Twitter, etc.)—only 8.9% do so regularly.
Above all, active political uses of social media (such as liking, commenting on, or sharing campaign-related content) remain less frequent than so-called passive uses (consuming information). Among all political practices, those requiring the least engagement are the most common among the French population. According to the PEOPLE 2022 survey, while 47.1% of French people report having viewed content related to the 2022 campaign on social media, the figures drop to 28.2% for those who report having commented on such content and to 26.3% for those who report having shared it.
Similarly, 86.6% of respondents said they had discussed the campaign offline, and 69.5% said they had read campaign flyers. Additionally, 19.2% attended a political event (rally, etc.), and 18.6% met with campaign activists.
These figures therefore show that engagement in political activities online—and even offline—remains largely a matter of individual choice. It is, in fact, largely determined by an individual’s level of interest in politics. Furthermore, online political activities tend to go hand in hand: someone who comments on campaign-related content will also tend to share and “like” it across multiple platforms.
Moreover, they very often complement offline political participation. In fact, online political behavior depends on the intensity of people’s activist engagement. The most active activists are therefore not only active on social media but are also—and above all!—the ones who vote most regularly. For example, eight out of 10 people who reported engaging in three online political activities voted in both rounds of the 2022 presidential election. Rather than leading to politicization that occurs solely online, social media thus plays a greater role in sustaining politicization—both in terms of staying informed and participating. Consequently, it is indeed offline political engagement that continues to determine voter turnout.
Greater knowledge of or familiarity with politics does not necessarily lead to voting. In fact, voter turnout and candidate choice are influenced by multiple factors, and political engagement on social media is not enough. The decision to vote remains primarily motivated by having voted in previous elections and by engaging in offline political activities, such as reading campaign flyers or talking with activists. Political parties would therefore be ill-advised to abandon more “traditional” methods of mobilizing their electorate.
Especially since social media isn’t the only way to access information. In fact, television remains the primary source of news during election campaigns—particularly among older adults. One in two French people got their news from television during the 2022 presidential campaign.
Admittedly, the days when 30 million viewers tuned in to watch the debate between Valéry Giscard d’Estaing and François Mitterrand between the two rounds of voting are long gone. However, even for less popular elections like the European elections, the May 27, 2024, debate among party leaders organized by BFMTV still drew 4.8% of the audience. Rather than a dichotomy between traditional media and social media, we are actually seeing a convergence of information, with individuals taking a more active role in their news consumption by combining various channels. Similarly, media production is structured around both traditional media and social media. For example, televised debates between candidates are covered by the press—such as in Le Monde’s “Live” section—or on Twitter.
In the end, and to answer our initial question, we find that social media alone is not enough to combat voter abstention. Thus, even if the new app TenTen, which is very popular among young people, is directly calling on all citizens to go out and vote; voter turnout may remain “in airplane mode” on Sunday, June 9.
