Do politicians connect with young people? Analysis of Twitter use by candidates in the 2019 European Parliament election campaign.

This article examines whether the six main candidates (Spitzenkandidaten) in the 2019 European Parliament election used Twitter to engage young voters by addressing issues important to them, such as climate change, education, poverty, unemployment, health, and human rights. Analyzing 303 tweets posted during the final two weeks of the campaign, the study found that fewer than half (44.8%) of the tweets covered topics of interest to youth, with most focusing instead on campaign events, territorial issues, voting appeals, and party alliances. Candidates rarely targeted young voters directly (only 5.3% of tweets), though such posts received higher engagement, and they predominantly tweeted in their native languages rather than English, limiting broader reach. The research concludes that despite the potential of Twitter for two-way communication and mobilizing youth, candidates largely used it for traditional political marketing rather than dialogue, suggesting a need for more youth-focused, multimedia, and multilingual strategies in future European election campaigns.