In-party support and out-party hostility. (IMAGE)
Caption
Support and opposition to the 5 main political parties by users from different areas of the retweet network. The label “UK” corresponds to “unknown.” Each user can be assigned more than one label; for example, by supporting one party and criticizing another. Thus, the bars may sum up to more than 100%.
Area A corresponds to an ideologically homogeneous, leftist ‘epistemic (communication) bubble’ characterized by the dominance of positive in-party messages in favor of Podemos, the left-wing populist party that emerged in 2014, and the Socialist party -PSOE. Users in Area A are highly retweeted.
Area B is a right-wing epistemic bubble where users also present high retweet rates. However, in the first two elections it wasn't as ideologically homogeneous as Area A, spanning a wider range of opinions within the right side of the spectrum. Users from Area B mostly show support for the right-wing party PP, the center-right Cs, and the extreme-right Vox.
Area C emerges in the November 2019 elections from the left side of the spectrum, most likely as a reaction of the successful emergence of Vox in the political area in the preceding electoral elections of April 2019. This new area is characterized by a strong support for Podemos and hostility toward other parties, especially against Vox. Users from Area C obtain very few retweets on average.
Area D, on the ideological right, was detected in the April 2019 elections and again in the November 2019 elections. It is characterized by high levels of out-party hostility toward Podemos and PSOE with a significant number of in-party affinity messages toward Vox. Its users also present very low retweeting rates.
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